Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Ephesians 1:1-14

1Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν [ἐν Ἐφέσῳ] καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, 
2χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
3Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ, 
4καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ 
5προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, 
6εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἧς ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ. 
7Ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων, κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ 
8ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς, ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ φρονήσει, 
9γνωρίσας ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν αὐτοῦ ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὐτῷ 
10εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν αὐτῷ 
11Ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ 
12εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης αὐτοῦ τοὺς προηλπικότας ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ. 
13Ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀκούσαντες τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ πιστεύσαντες ἐσφραγίσθητε τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ ἁγίῳ, 
14ὅ ἐστιν ἀρραβὼν τῆς κληρονομίας ἡμῶν, εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς περιποιήσεως, εἰς ἔπαινον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.

All right, have at it - let's translate and question in the comments! Text compliments of www.academic-bible.com

9 comments:

Cap'n Salty said...

1Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν [ἐν Ἐφέσῳ] καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ,
Let's remember declensions - 2nd declension at the beginning, then θελήματος 3rd. Case following διὰ. Review the present participle for the being verb for οὖσιν. Remember that will give you the endings found in most active participles.

Anonymous said...

HCSB translates 1:1 this way:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will:
To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

Why might the second line be challenged as a good translation? Specifically, "to the faithful saints"

Cap'n Salty said...

@exegete - I really don't like the way HCSB pulled πιστοῖς out of the syntactical location where Paul put it. It looks much more like he's using some sort of apposition rather than using it as any kind of attributive adjective. It isn't in the attributive position. It is separated from ἁγίοις by three to five words. I'd also challenge the fact that the participle οὖσιν is not dealt with at all. Finally, it's an odd decision to change the idiomatic "in Ephesus" which works fine in English to say "at Ephesus" since there's the preposition.

Cap'n Salty said...

2χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
This is a great verse for review of the first and second person pronouns in the plural.
Why is κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ in the genitive case? Which of the multiple possible words or concepts earlier in the verse does it modify? Why?

Cap'n Salty said...

Can you identify the mood of the verbs in verses 3-14? For the time being let's assume that a mood can be not only indicative, imperative, and subjunctive, but include the infinitive, optative, and a participle as moods. While you're at it, check the tenses, remembering that the linear ones are present and imperfect, the point of action one is aorist, and that the future can be linear or punctiliar.

Unknown said...

I've been wrestling with the mood of 3-14 for the last 2 days. It makes a difference.

For instance, v4 states:

εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ

here are three different approaches:

that we would be holy and blameless before him (ESV)

that we should be holy and blameless before him (RSV2CE)

to be holy and blameless in his sight (NIV)

I must confess that my initial translation of the infinitive εἶναι was identical to the ESV. The subjunctive in the RSV2CE gives me the heebie jeebies. But, I REALLY like how the NIV handles it better than the ESV.

Any thoughts?

Cap'n Salty said...

@Chris, this is a great line of inquiry. Usually we talk about a natural result or an actual result here. The subject of the infinitive is "us," the people "he chose." Using ἵνα with the subjunctive would indicate an intended result (Machen & McCartney 2004, 269-270, see also Smythe ss 1984-2003). The problem is that the actual result would normally have a ὤστε but Paul doesn't do that. I usually don't like the NIV because they make too many interpretive decisions but here it looks like the ESV and RSV2CE have made the interpretation of intention while NIV left it a lot closer to Paul.

Cap'n Salty said...

Actually, the more I look at Chris' comment, the more I think it does show an actual result, but the result is a result of numerous different elements. In verses 4 and 5 we have the actions of God right at the beginning of the verses. The actual result is in verse 7 where we have forgiveness, and then the implications are spelled out further in verses 8ff.

Unknown said...

I agree that there is a result. The question is what is the best way to convey that result?

Subjunctive opens the door to Rome's doctrine of justification, and does NOT, in my opinion properly capture the thrust of the infinitive.

NIV translates it straight across while the ESV captures the result without yielding the impact of the infinitive.