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On Tuesday morning the pastors of Lutheran Saints in Ministry gather in Fairborn Ohio to discuss the texts for Sunday.

These are the contributions that are brought to the table.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Greek Study of Acts 2: Pentecost

Greek Study Acts  2:1-13

2:1 εν τω + inf. "When" - forms either a temporal or an instrumental clause expressing means; "since it was the day of Pentecost, they were all together." 
την ημεραν (α) της πεντηκοστης (η) gen. ""the day of Pentecost" genitive is adjectival; "the day known as Pentecost."
συμπληρουσθαι (συμπληροω) pres. pas. inf. "came" - [when the day of Pentecost] draws near, comes, is fulfilled. The present tense may express ongoing action (durative).

v2 αφνω adv. "suddenly" - unexpectedly. 
ηχος (ος) "a sound" roar in Luke 21:25 the noise is of a roaring sea, wind-like.
φερομενης (φερω) gen. pres. part. "the blowing" - "a mighty wind which was driving in on them.
επληρωσεν (πληροω) aor. "filled" "sound" or "wind"?
τον οικον (ος) "the house" Given they were "sitting" and not "dwelling", the meaning here is possibly "the room." 
νσαν καθημενοι (καθημαι) pres. part. "they were sitting" - periphrastic imperfect construction emphasizing durative aspect.

v3 ωφθησαν (οραω) aor. pas. "they saw"  a divine passive, God does the revealing, so "suddenly there came from heaven ..... and tongues were revealed to them." 
γλωσσαι "tongues/languages"  specifically a divine gift which enables the disciples to communicate to people with different dialects and languages.
ωσει "what seemed to be" not, "looked like tongues", but rather, "a manifestation of tongues which looked like πυρος (υρ υρος) gen. " fire"
διαμεριζομεναι (διαμεριζω) pres. pas. part. "that separated" i.e. tongues which looked like a spreading flame.

v4 παντες adj. "all of them" – all present received the Spirit.
επλησθησαν (πιμπλημι) aor. pas. "were filled" – punctiliar; realizing 1:5 where the gift of the Spirit is expressed in the terms, "will be baptized."
πνευματος αγιου gen. "with the Holy Spirit".
ηρξαντο (αρχομαι) aor. ind. mid. "began" i.e. the disciples did something they had not done before.
λαλειν (λαλεω) pres. inf. "to speak
ετεραις dat. adj. "in other [tongues]" an instrumental dative, expressing means. Isaiah 28:11, referred to by Paul in 1Cor.14:21. The translation "foreign languages" is possible, but some form of ecstatic prophecy, miraculously, or otherwise understood by the crowd, is more likely. We are left to wonder why Luke gives us so little information about this phenomenon. "They began to forcefully prophesy ecstatically."
εδιδου (διδωμι) imperf. "enabled" imperfect tense is durative. Luke does not clearly define the relationship between what is obviously a once only act whereby the Spirit is given to a believer for life, and the seeming action of the Spirit, at a specific time and for a specific purpose, to "fill" (empower?) a believer for ministry.
αποφθεγγεσθαι (αποφθεγγομαι) pres. inf. to utter out aloud - used of forceful, even inspired speech, which adds weight to the idea that this tongue-speaking had language content. We are left to wonder whether the Corinthian version of tongues had language content or bore any similarity to the Acts version.

v5 ησαν .... κατοικουντες (κατοικεω) pres. part. "there were staying" ευλαβεις adj. "God-fearing" – a word missing in some manuscripts; a technical term used by Luke, likely not in the original text as it grammatically refers to all the Jews and this obviously was not the case.
Ιουδαιοι "Jews" - Also missing in some manuscripts. Considered by some as originally a marginal notation. "Jews" in the sense of either race or religion. Possibly Jewish pilgrims from the Roman provinces visiting Jerusalem for the festival.
  
v6
γενομενης (γινομαι) aor. part. "when they heard" the speaking, not the wind.
συνεχυθη (συγχεω) aor. pas. "in bewilderment" - the word describes the total shock of those hearing the tongues.
αυτων gen. pro. "[each one]" - [each one] of them. This pronoun may go with εις εκαστος, "each one", serving as a partitive genitive, but more likely it goes with λαλουντων, so a partitive genitive must be assumed; "each one of them".
ηκουον (ακουω) imperf. + gen. "heard" - verb takes as its genitive direct object αυτων, "them = these men", or possibly an assumed "them", see above, such that the genitive substantive participle λαλουντων, "speaking", serves as an object complement; so each one of them heard these men speaking in τη ιδια διαλεκτω (ος) dat. their own language. At this point scholars divide. Was it different languages/dialects? Bruce suggests "manner of speech". The word is unclear. Was this a miracle of speech, or of hearing?

v7 λεγοντες (λεγω) pres. part. "[utterly amazed] they asked" ουχ "are not" negation is used in a question expecting an positive reply.
οι λαλουντες (λαλεω) pres. part. "[all these] who are speaking" Γαλιλαιοι "Galileans" - What identified them as Galileans? Some have suggested dress, more probably accent, which means it carried over into their tongue-speaking. 
  
v8
πως "how" - Interrogative. Serves to add a sense of confusion in the question.
εν + dat. "in [our own native language]" - clause is idomatic and takes the sense "in his own native tongue".

v9 The list of countries and races reflects common lists of the time which served to identify the extent of the diaspora.
οι κατοικουντες (κατοικεω) pres. part. "residents of [Mesopotamia]
  
v10
της Λιβυης (η) gen. "[the parts] of Libya"
οι επιδημουντες (επιδημεω) pres. part. "visitors from [Rome]" i.e. Roman citizens.

v11 Ιουδαιοι τε και προσηλυτοι "both Jews and converts to Judaism" - generally felt to be an early attempt to sort out a textual problem. Barrett suggests that the clause is in apposition to "Roman citizens" and intended to mean "temporarily resident in Jerusalem."
λαλουντων (λαλεω) gen. pres. part. "[we hear them] declaring" - supporting the view that the miracle is one of speech, not of hearing.
ταις ημετεραις γλωσσαις dat. "in our own tongues" dative is instrumental, expressing means; "by means of."
του θεου (ος) gen. "[the wonders] of God" a rare ablative, origin is a possible classification, again, emphasizing the language content of the tongues. The "mighty acts" are undefined, but given the context, they surely concern God's work of redemption recently completed in the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

v12 διηπορουν (διαπορεω) imperf. "[amazed and] perplexed" λεγοντες (λεγω) pres. part. "they asked" idiom "amazed the spoke to one another."
τι "what" on earth an interogative  θελει (θελοω) pres. "[does this]" ειναι (ειμι) pres. inf. "mean"? - infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of θελω, "I wish" 

v13 ετεροι adj. "some In v12 we are told παντες, "all", were amazed but here "some" makes fun of the situation. Some scholars claim "careless writing", others argue that the "all" is hyperbole. The point is clear; the behavior of the disciples mystifies the crowd, some of whom διαχλευαζοντες (διαχλευαζω) pres. part. "made fun of them” 
μεμεστωμενοι εισιν "they have had too much" γλευκους (ος) "wine"  so on one side people understood the prophetic nature of the "tongues", on the other there were people putting it down to intoxication - slurring of speech, mumbling – must be drunk!"
NOTE: the word for wine is used of partly fermented new wine, but this is obviously not intended here so possibly wine preserved with honey, "sweet wine" or the kind of wine most of us use for communion (who knew that Mogen David had such an early origin?)


Sorry, out of time

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