Tuesday, July 03, 2018

 

Two Words in First Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 3.2-3 (New International Version; emphasis added):
[2] We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God's service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, [3] so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.

καὶ ἐπέμψαμεν Τιμόθεον, τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν καὶ συνεργὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰς τὸ στηρίξαι ὑμᾶς καὶ παρακαλέσαι ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν [3] τὸ μηδένα σαίνεσθαι ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν ταύταις.

σαίνεσθαι vel sim. codd.: ἀσαίνεσθαι H. Venema (coll. Hsch. ἀσαίνων = ὑβρίζων, λυπῶν): σαλεύεσθαι T. Beza & R. Bentley: παθαίνεσθαι A.D. Knox (Journal of Theological Studies 25 [1924] 290-291)
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. σαίνω:
[I.] prop. of dogs, wag the tail, fawn ....

II. metaph. of persons, fawn, cringe ....

III.[1.] c. acc. pers., fawn upon ....

2. fawn on, pay court to, greet ....

3. gladden, esp. with hope or conviction ....

4. beguile, cozen, deceive ....

5. in 1 Ep.Thess.3.3, σαίνεσθαι ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι seems to mean to be shaken, disturbed; "σαινόμενοι τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐδάκρυον" D.L. 8.41 (or in signf. III.4); σαίνεται: κινεῖται, σαλεύεται, ταράττεται, Hsch.; but cf. σιαίνω.
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. σιαίνω:
cause loathing or disgust to a person ....
H. Chadwick defends the paradosis in Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 1 (1950) 156-158 (at 157-158):
[T]here has recently come to light a clear and unambiguous instance of σαίνω meaning 'perturb mentally'. Among the theological papyri discovered in the find at Tura near Cairo in 1941 there is included the minutes of a discussion between Origen and a bishop Heraclides with others. The text is edited by M. Jean Scherer: Entretien d'Origène avec Héraclide et les évêques ses collègues sur le Père, le Fils, et l'Âme (Publications de la Société Fouad I de Papyrologie: Textes et Documents IX), Cairo, 1949. (See the review by Mr. G.W.H. Lampe in the Journal, April 1950.) After Origen has dealt with all the questions arising from the case of Heraclides, whose orthodoxy had seemed so doubtful to some of the community, he remarks (p. 140, line 5): τὰ μὲν περὶ πίστεως, ὅσα ἔσηνεν ἡμᾶς, συνεξετάσθη. 'All the questions about the faith which disturbed us have been examined.'

There is nothing to suggest that Origen may have been influenced by the New Testament.
Much of the information above comes from F.F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Waco: Word Books, 1982), pp. 59 and 62.

1 Thessalonians 4.3-4 (New International Version; emphasis added):
[3] It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; [4] that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable ...

[3] τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν, ἀπέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς πορνείας, [4] εἰδέναι ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ ...
Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. σκεῦος:
[I.1.] vessel or implement of any kind

2. inanimate object, thing

II. τὸ ς. the body, as the vessel of the soul, a metaph. clearly expressed in 2 Ep.Cor.4.7, ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν, cf. 1 Ep.Thess.4.4, 1 Ep.Pet. 3.7.

III. = αἰδοῖον, AP l.4.243 (Antist.), Ael. NA 17.11.

IV. sarcophagus ....
Some would classify the example in 1 Thessalonians 4.4 under LSJ's sense III—see e.g. Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., s.v. σκεῦος:
Also probable for 1 Th 4:4 is 'penis' (so Antistius [I a.d.] in Anthol. Plan. 4, 243; Aelian, NA 17, 11; cp. the euphemistic Lat. 'vasa' in this sense: Plautus, Poenulus. 863; s. MPoole, Synopsis Criticorum Ali. Sacrae Script., rev. ed. 1694, V col. 908; on sim. usage at Qumran s. TElgvin, NTS 43, '97, 604–19; NAB [1970] renders guarding his member [difft. rev. ed. of NAB, 1986]. Cp. KDonfried, NTS 31, '85, 342). In such case κτᾶσθαι must mean someth. like 'gain control of', etc.—DELG. M-M. EDNT. TW.



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