Koine and Biblical and Medieval Greek • Re: ἐκ μέσου γένηται

Here's my translation of 2Th 2:1-12, with some notes. It makes a bit more sense to me now than the last time I looked at it. Hopefully it will make even more sense the next time I run across it, however many years from now. But who knows?

Ἐρωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ὑπὲρ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπ' αὐτόν, εἰς τὸ μὴ ταχέως σαλευθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ νοὸς μηδὲ θροεῖσθαι μήτε διὰ πνεύματος μήτε διὰ λόγου μήτε δι' ἐπιστολῆς ὡς δι' ἡμῶν, ὡς ὅτι ἐνέστηκεν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου.

We request you, brothers, for the sake of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our rapture to him, to not be quickly shaken out of your wits, nor to be afraid, neither because of a spirit, nor because of a prophecy, nor because of a letter that seems to be from us, saying that the day of the Lord is at hand.

* See LSJ ἐρωτάω.III for this usage

μή τις ὑμᾶς ἐξαπατήσῃ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον· ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀποστασία πρῶτον καὶ ἀποκαλυφθῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καθίσαι, ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἔστιν θεός.

Let no one mislead you by any means that [the day of Lord is here] if the apostasy does not come first and reveal the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Destruction, the Opposer exceeding everyone called God or August, so that he settles himself into the temple of God, publishing himself as being God.

* Clear reference to the Roman Emperors, imo. ΘΕΟΣ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ on the coins. But this guy is worse.

Οὐ μνημονεύετε ὅτι ἔτι ὢν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ταῦτα ἔλεγον ὑμῖν; καὶ νῦν τὸ κατέχον οἴδατε, εἰς τὸ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷ· τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας· μόνον ὁ κατέχων ἄρτι ἕως ἐκ μέσου γένηται.

Do you not remember that while I was still present with you that I told you these things? And now you know the delay; it's for the sake revealing him in [God's] own time. For the Mysterium is already in operation against the Lawlessness. He is only the Delayer for now, until he comes to the fore.

* ἑαυτοῦ referring to God, the agent of the revealing, seems far more likely to me than αὐτοῦ referring to the Man of Lawlessness.

** I think τῆς ἀνομίας is objective genitive. The separation from τὸ μυστήριον is just a bit too weird. He could have added τὸ τῆς ἀνομίας or something to make it clearer if he had meant "of lawlessness".

*** Whether ὁ κατέχων refers to God or to the Man of Lawlessness, I can't really tell. The ἕως phrase refers to the Man of Lawlessness, corresponding to the revealing, but that may not be the subject. I don't think it affects the meaning much either way.

**** μόνον goes with ἄρτι, imo

***** I don't like "out of the way", which I quoted in an earlier post from the RSV. I was going to mention it, but didn't want to distract then. Out from in between or out from the middle is more literal. Given the ἀποκαλυφθῆναι language, I think it means out from a concealing position, so I give "comes to the fore" here.

καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος, ὃν ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἀνελεῖ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ καταργήσει τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, οὗ ἐστὶν ἡ παρουσία κατ' ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν ψεύδους καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ ἀδικίας τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, ἀνθ' ὧν τὴν ἀγάπην τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἐδέξαντο εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι αὐτούς· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πέμπει αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ἐνέργειαν πλάνης εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ ψεύδει, ἵνα κριθῶσιν πάντες οἱ μὴ πιστεύσαντες τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἀλλὰ εὐδοκήσαντες τῇ ἀδικίᾳ.

And then the Lawless Οne will be revealed, who the Lord Jesus will destroy with the spirit of his mouth and abolish with the obviousness of his presence, whose presence is against the operation of Satan in every power with both signs and wonders of falsehood and in every trick of unrighteousness against those being destroyed, due to which they have not accepted the love of truth for their salvation. And because of this, God sends them an operation of deceit so that they will believe the lie, so that everyone who has not believed in the truth, but has approved the unrighteousness, may be separated out.

* There are other ways to understand "κατ' ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν ψεύδους καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ ἀδικίας τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις". Whose are the false signs? Jesus' or Satan's? The rest of the verse seems to establish the former.

** ἀντ᾿ ὧν = wherefore, because of these false signs, etc.

Statistics: Posted by jeidsath — Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:48 pm


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