From: Dale M. Wheeler (dalemw@teleport.com)
Date: Wed Dec 17 1997 - 13:10:47 EST
Edward Hobbs wrote:
<snip>
>Thanks to Paul for discovering this omission. (I wouldn't have, since,
>like Carl, I find this long opening super-sentence too stupefying to
>seem worth the gymnastics to decode its Greek [did I say Greek?].)
Before I say anything, let me say that the following is NOT intended as
a criticism of Edward (or Carl for that matter), so *PLEASE* don't read
it that way !!!!! Edward is *absolutely* correct that Eph 1:3-14 is
a unique sentence in Greek, at times almost defying analysis by any
normal standards of Greek syntax and rhetoric...though surprisingly
very readable...but so is Revelation, and its Greek goes off the
charts at times (BTW, I think the cause of both problems is similar).
In Sept I posted a note about the structure of the BARUK praise hymn
in Eph 1:3-14; let me suggest that the reason this "sentence" looks
so strange is because of additional features (which I didn't mention
before) that are natural in a Hebrew psalm, but are not necessairly
apparent to someone looking for Greek rhetoric/syntax.
In addition to the "Call to Praise...Reason to Praise...Renewed Call
to Praise" overall, thrice repeated, structure (see the archives),
there is a further device used in Eph which is used to give additional
"(sub-)Reasons to Praise" within the larger units, namely the
relative pronoun clauses. Anyone who reads the Psalms in Hebrew will
recognize the ASHER-Clause use for the same purpose (along with the
redundant pronouns which repeat the relatives). I take it that
Paul (yes, I think Paul wrote it, and no, I'm not interested in
discussing that on BGreek) uses the rel prons to further break down
the "Reasons to Praise" units into specific topics. To make the
outline I gave in the previous post more specific, let me suggest
for your consideration the following:
1) Call to Praise (3)
1a) Call to Praise (3a)
1b) General Reason to Praise (3b) ([Subst] Ptcs do this in Hebrew,
approximating the force of a Causal clause; cf., 1Pet 1:3f; 2Cor 1:3f)
2) Specific Reasons to Praise (4-14); intro by KAQWS
2a) Specific Reason 1
2aa) Work of Father (4-5)
2ab) Renewed Call 1 (6)
2b) Specific Reason 2
2ba) Work of Son (7-11)
2baa) Work 1 - Redemption (7)
2bab) Work 2 - Revelation of "Mystery" (8-9a)
2bac) Work 3 - Re-Heading Up (Recapturing) the Universe (9b-10)
2bad) Work 4 - Granting Believers Inheritance in His Kingdom (11)
[which contextually solves this act vs pass question for me]
2bb) Renewed Call 2 (12)
2c) Specific Reason 3
2ca) Work of Spirit (13-14a)
2caa) Work 1 - "Sealing" (13)
2cab) Work 2 - "Downpayment" (14a)
2cb) Renewed Call 3 (14b)
This doesn't solve all the prep and genitive phrase issues in here,
but it gives a structure which I think helps one figure out where
things go. BTW, on the gen phrases esp., one needs to keep in mind
the way Hebrew constructs work, which is not the same as Greek
genitives always do (I don't think Paul or anyone else does this on
a regular basis, but in this Psalm I think he clearly does). The
moral of the story...read more Hebrew, y'all. (-;
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and ho, ho, ho....
XAIREIN...
***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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