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  • From: "Paul O. Wendland" <wendlanp AT wls.wels.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Ephesians 3:3
  • Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 12:40:13 -0500


Dave:--
>
> Does the end of Eph
> 3:3 suggest that there was a previous letter to the same readership, or
> does this simply refer back to earlier text in Eph?

KAQWS PROEGRAYA EN OLIGWi

"just as I wrote you in brief"

The question revolves around how you take the aorist indicative.

A) 1--If you take it as referring to past time, then Paul could very well be
referring to a prior letter, 2--although even in this instance it could,
conceivably, refer to earlier portions of the letter.

B) If you take it as an epistolary aorist (that is, a convention in letter
writing "in which the author self-consciously describes his letter from the
time frame of the audience"--Wallace p. 562., then it most definitely refers
to the current letter, and can be translated something like "just as I've
written you briefly (now)."

David Wallace has a discussion of it in his grammar on pp. 562-563. I
imagine the student will make his decision based on other than a purely
grammatical analysis, such as the line of thought of the letter. I
personally would opt for either A2 or B)--either of which would exclude the
thought of a prior letter--because of "line of thought" considerations.

Since I don't consider myself either a Greek expert or the son of one, I'm
very much interested in other views.

Paul
===============================
Paul O. Wendland
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
wendlanp AT wls.wels.net




  • Ephesians 3:3, David Inglis, 09/08/2002
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • RE: Ephesians 3:3, Paul O. Wendland, 09/08/2002

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