Colossians 2 Explanation Practice
This was a fun exercise. To prepare for a conversational session around Colossians with him, Suemas recommended that I practice paraphrasing the text in Greek. I didn’t quite paraphrase. I guess I did more commenting, but it was a fun exercise anyway. It is not going to help me prepare much for our session tonight as I started a little before the text where we stopped previously, but I still see the value in it. Next time I will do better and invest more time.
This represents about four-ish hours of work. When I used words that I already know, the composition went quickly, but some things tended to take a little research time. Like when I use ὁμοιοῖ, I had to figure out how to express what is being compared against. Does it take a dative or do I need a preposition? Apparently a dative works. Or when I had to look up the sixth principal part of περιτέμνω because I just didn’t have that memorized (shocking). Or when I (perhaps terribly) tried to set two ideas as against each other using τίθησι. I assume things will get faster as I practice more.
Composition really underscores the difference between trying to talk in a language versus trying to write. Composition is a very reflective activity that allows you to go back and correct things where conversation is spontaneous and requires someone like myself to use simpler structures. Of course there isn’t much of a chance to look up idioms in the middle of a chat.
Anyway, here is my exercise. Feel free to mock my blunders, for they are here on full display.
2:8 βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν· 9 ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς, 10 καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας.
λέγων «βλέπετε», ἐντέλλει αὐτοὺς φρουρεῖν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶν ἀνθρώπων οἳ θέλονται ὀδηγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ καὶ εἰς φιλοσοφίαν. ὁ συλαγωγῶν ὁμοιοῖ στρατιώτῃ ὃς νικᾷ καὶ λαμβάνει σκῦλα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. ὁ συλαγωγῶν ἐστὶν τις ὃς ἀπατᾷ ἀνθρωπον ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ὁ συλαγωγῶν ἀπατᾷ «διὰ τῆς καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων». ἆρα πᾶσα ἡ φιλοσοφία ἐστὶν κακή; πολλοὶ Χριστιανοὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἠγαπήκασιν, ὡς Ἰουστίνος ὁ μάρτυς, Κλήμεντος Ἀλεξανδρίας, καὶ Ὀριγένης. ἆρα ὁ Παῦλος ἐμίσησεν πᾶσαν τῆν φιλοσοφίαν; οὐκ οἶδα. πλὴν ὁ Παῦλος ἐνουθέτησεν αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀποχωρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ζητέτω ὁ Χριστιανὸς τὰ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ μὴ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου. ὡς λέγει ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας: «ὅτε ἦμεν νήπιοι, ὑπὸ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου ἤμεθα δεδουλωμένοι.» ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ἀποστρέφομεν ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀλήθινον θεόν. διὰ τί; ἐν Χριστῷ «κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος».
εἰ ἡ φιλοσοφία ἐστὶν ἀγαθός, ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν βέλτιος. ὡς ὁ Ἰωάννης λέγει, «θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος» ἢ ὡς οἱ πατέρες ἔγραψαν ἐν τῷ συμβόλῳ τῆς Νικαίας «θεὸν ἀληθινὸν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ». ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἡ μυστηρία τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεου. ἡ φιλοσοφία ἡ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν ἐστιν «κενή ἀπάτη». ὁ οὖν πιστεύων ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ἀπὸ τῶν τούτων φεύγειν ὀφείλει.
περὶ τῆς λέξεως «σωματικῶς», Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν καὶ θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος. ἡ πλήρωμα «σωματικῶς» κατοικεῖ. φανερῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁ υἱὸς ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος καὶ περιεπάτησεν μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. τὸ γίνεσθαι ἄνθρωπον καλεῖται «ἐνανθωποίησις». ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶναι ἄνθρπωπον οὐκ ἐδόκησεν, ἀλλὰ ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωπος. ὁ υἱὸς ὃς οὐκ ἔσχεν τὴν σάρκα γέγονεν σάρξ. ὡς γέγραπαι ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Ἰωάννου ἐν κεφάλαιον τὸ πρῶτον καὶ ἐν τὸ στοιχεῖον τὸ δέκατος καὶ τέσσαρες, «ὁ λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο».
οἱ πιστεύοντές εἰσιν «ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι». οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ὅτι Χρίστον ἔχουσιν, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ σοφία καὶ εἰκών τοῦ θεοῦ.
11 ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 12 συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτισμῷ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν·
περὶ τῆς φράσεως «περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ», ὁ Παῦλος τίθησι τὴν ἐν τῇ σαρκί περιτομὴν τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ περιτομὴν τῆς καινῆς. ὁ πάτηρ Ἄβρααμ ἡμῶν περιετμήθη καὶ περιέτεμεν πὰντας ἄνδρους ἐν τῷ οἰκῷ αὐτοῦ. ἐν δὲ νῦν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὁ θεὸς οὐ ἐνετειλάται ἡμᾶς περιτέμνειν τέκνα ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ πιστεύειν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. ἀνθρώπου ἐν Χριστῷ πιστεύοντος ὁ θεός τοῦτον τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῇ καρδίᾳ περιτέμνει. ὁ πιστεύων περιτομήν ἀχειροποίητoν λαμβάνει. αὕτη ἐστ`ὶν ἡ περιτομὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ὀ Ἰησοῦς τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ περιετμήθη ἀλλὰ ὁ Παύλος οὐ ἔγραφεν περὶ ταύτης περιτομής ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς ἣ ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ ποιεῖται ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ πιστεύοντος.
...and then I ran out of time.
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