Ephesians: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament)

226 Pages·2009·1.28 MB·English

by  William J. Larkin

Ephesians
Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament
Martin M. Culy
General Editor
Ephesians
A Handbook on the Greek Text
William J. Larkin
Baylor UnivErsity PrEss
© 2009 by Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas 76798-7363
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other-
wise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University
Press.
Scripture translations are the author’s.
Cover Design by Pamela Poll Graphic Design
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Larkin, William J.
Ephesians : a handbook on the Greek text / William J. Larkin.
p. cm. -- (Baylor handbook on the Greek New Testament)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60258-066-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. Ephesians--Criticism, Textual. 2. Bible. N.T.
Ephesians. Greek--Versions. I. Title.
BS2695.52.L37 2009
227’.506--dc22
2009021033
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a
minimum of 30% pcw recycled content.
Contents
Series Introduction vii
Preface xiii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction xvii
Ephesians 1:1-2 1
Ephesians 1:3-14 3
Ephesians 1:15-23 17
Ephesians 2:1-10 26
Ephesians 2:11-22 35
Ephesians 3:1-13 47
Ephesians 3:14-21 59
Ephesians 4:1-6 67
Ephesians 4:7-16 72
Ephesians 4:17-24 84
Ephesians 4:25–5:5 95
Ephesians 5:6-14 111
Ephesians 5:15-20 120
Ephesians 5:21-33 127
Ephesians 6:1-4 143
Ephesians 6:5-9 148
Ephesians 6:10-20 155
Ephesians 6:21-24 166
Glossary 173
Bibliography 179
Grammar Index 187
Author Index 193
v

series introduCtion
The Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament (BHGNT) is
designed to guide new readers and seasoned scholars alike through
the intricacies of the Greek text. Each handbook provides a verse-
by-verse treatment of the biblical text. Unlike traditional com-
mentaries, however, the BHGNT makes little attempt to expound
on the theological meaning or significance of the document under
consideration. Instead, the handbooks serve as “prequels” to com-
mentary proper. They provide readers of the New Testament with
a foundational analysis of the Greek text upon which interpretation
may then be established. Readers of traditional commentaries are
sometimes dismayed by the fact that even those that are labeled
“exegetical” or “critical” frequently have little to say about the
mechanics of the Greek text, and all too often completely ignore
the more perplexing grammatical issues. In contrast, the BHGNT
offers an accessible and comprehensive, though not exhaustive,
treatment of the Greek New Testament, with particular attention
given to the grammar of the text. In order to make the handbooks
more user-friendly, authors have only selectively interacted with
secondary literature. Where there is significant debate on an issue,
the handbooks provide a representative sample of scholars espous-
ing each position; when authors adopt a less known stance on the
text, they generally list any other scholars who have embraced that
position.
The BHGNT, however, is more than a reliable guide to the Greek
text of the New Testament. Each author brings unique strengths
to the task of preparing the handbook. As a result, students and
scholars alike will at times be introduced to ways of looking at the
Greek language that they have not encountered before. This fea-
ture makes the handbooks valuable not only for intermediate and
vii
viii Series Introduction
advanced Greek courses, but also for students and scholars who no
longer have the luxury of increasing their Greek proficiency within
a classroom context. While handbook authors do not consider
modern linguistic theory to be a panacea for all questions exegeti-
cal, the BHGNT does aim both to help move linguistic insights
into the mainstream of New Testament reference works and, at the
same time, to help weed out some of the myths about the Greek
language that continue to appear in both scholarly and popular
treatments of the New Testament.
using the Baylor Handbook on the Greek new testament
Each handbook consists of the following features. The introduction
draws readers’ attention to some of the distinctive features of the
biblical text and treats some of the broader issues relating to the text
as a whole in a more thorough fashion. In the handbook proper, the
biblical text is divided into sections, each of which is introduced
with a translation that illustrates how the insights gleaned from
the analysis that follows may be expressed in modern English.
Following the translation is the heart of the handbook, an exten-
sive analysis of the Greek text. Here, the Greek text of each verse
is followed by comments on grammatical, lexical, and text-critical
issues. Handbook authors may also make use of other features,
such as passage overviews between the translation and notes.
Each page of the handbook includes a header to direct readers
to the beginning of the section where the translation is found (left
page header) or to identify the range of verses covered on the two
facing pages (right page header). Terminology used in the com-
ments that is potentially unfamiliar is included in a glossary in the
back of the handbook and/or cross-referenced with the first occur-
rence of the expression, where an explanation may be found. Each
volume also includes an index that provides a list of grammatical
phenomena occurring in the biblical text. This feature provides a
valuable resource for students of Greek wanting to study a par-
ticular construction more carefully or Greek instructors needing to
develop illustrations, exercises, or exams. The handbooks conclude
with a bibliography of works cited, providing helpful guidance in
identifying resources for further research on the Greek text.
Series Introduction ix
The handbooks assume that users will possess a minimal level
of competence with Greek morphology and syntax. Series authors
generally utilize traditional labels such as those found in Daniel
Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. Labels that are drawn
from the broader field of modern linguistics are explained at their
first occurrence and included in the glossary. Common labels that
users may be unfamiliar with are also included in the glossary.
The primary exception to the broad adoption of traditional
syntactic labels relates to verb tenses. Most New Testament Greek
grammars describe the tense system as being formally fairly simple
(only 6 tenses), but functionally complex. The aorist tense, it is
frequently said, can function in a wide variety of ways that are
associated with labels such as, “ingressive,” “gnomic,” “constative,”
“epistolary,” “proleptic,” and so forth. Similar functional complex-
ity is posited for the other tenses. Positing such “functions,” how-
ever, typically stems not from a careful analysis of Greek syntax,
but rather from grappling with the challenges of translating Greek
verbs into English. When we carefully examine the Greek verb
tenses themselves, we find that the tense forms do not themselves
denote semantic features such as ingressive, iterative, or conative;
they certainly do not emphasize such notions; at best they may
allow for ingressive, iterative, or conative translations. Although
many of the other traditional labels are susceptible to similar cri-
tique, the tense labels have frequently led to exegetical claims that
go beyond the syntax, for example, that a particular aorist verb
emphasizes the beginning of an action. For this reason, we have
chosen not to utilize these labels. Instead, where the context points
to an ingressive nuance for the action of the verb, this will be incor-
porated into the translation.
deponency
Although series authors will vary in the theoretical approaches
they bring to the text, the BHGNT has adopted the same general
approach on one important issue: deponency. Traditionally, the
label “deponent” has been applied to verbs with middle, passive,
or middle/passive morphology that are thought to be “active” in
meaning. Introductory grammars tend to put a significant number
of middle verbs in the New Testament in this category, despite the