[B-Greek] Re. PLEQW + EN + dative
Paul F. Evans
PastorPaul1957 at bellsouth.net
Thu Nov 8 22:35:19 EST 2007
Elizabeth,
I was rather hoping to see if PLEQW had any examples of the dative of
content with or without EN. However, I have since discovered it does not.
PLEROW seems to be the only NT example of a cognate with EN + dative (Eph
5:18), and this seems to indicate means.
But what about outside of the NT? BADG doesn't help because there appears
to be no entry for PLEQW. My original question was about the web-site, which
I have long forgotten about that allows some sort of search for examples of
certain constructions.
In any event, I think that searching for the dative of content is a
non-starter. The problem I have is that Eph 5:18 does not seem to primarily
indicate content. Arguments from context that Paul is referring to the
"fullness of God" seem weak to me. Verse 19 shows the results of the
filling. Nothing immediately before that seems to provide content either.
I was wondering if any examples of EN + dative could shed some additional
light how it is used here. I would be open to any suggestions whereby a
relatively uninitiated student could obtain access to examples of EN +
dative in similar constructions outside of the NT, to see if any might imply
both means and content simultaneously.
Pastor Paul
Wilmington First Pentecostal Holiness Church
http://www.wilmingtonfirst.org
PastorPaul1957 at bellsouth.net
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Kline
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 5:09 PM
To: greek B-Greek
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Re. PLEQW + EN + dative
On Nov 8, 2007, at 9:41 AM, Paul F. Evans wrote:
> In looking at EN, Wallace makes the comment in connection
> with Eph 5:18, that there are few if no occurrences of EN + dative, in
> connection with PLEROW, where the dative substantive indicates
> content.
> Content is usually indicated by the genitive. No porblemo!
Wallace GGBB p375 in a lengthly and nuanced discussion of EN + Dative
is paraphrasing from Abbott ICC p161. The way the question is framed
by Abbott isn't very helpful. We should be looking first at the
dative case to see if the case alone is ever used to indicate
content. See Lk 2:40 (text?), Rom 1:29 and 2Cor 7:4. Then we should
look at EN + dative to see if that construction is ever used to
indicate content. After clearing those questions then perhaps we
might ask a question about which verbs ... but I think the verb
question can be dropped in this case because the second question fails.
>
> However, in trying to determine instances where EN + dative might
> indicated
> content ...
Stop there, that is the question you want to answer.
The little research I did on this question in Smyth, G.Cooper and BDF
came up negative.
Elizabeth Kline
BTW, the context in Eph. 5:18 doesn't suggest content:
EPH. 5:18 KAI MH MEQUSKESQE OINWi, EN hWi ESTIN ASWTIA, ALLA
PLHROUSQE EN PNEUMATI,
I would take the dative OINWi as means or instrument for MEQUSKESQE.
Content isn't suggested by OINWi.
---
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