tranaltion check

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Glossa Ordinaria
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tranaltion check

Post by Glossa Ordinaria »

I was wanting to have a paragraph checked for corrections. Its actually one that was translated on here about four years ago but it never got much attention. It concerns a quote from Severian of Gabala on 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Καὶ ἡ μὲν πίστις ἐγείρει πρὸς καμάτους, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη ἐπιμένειν ποιεῖ τοῖς πόνοις. " ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ "Πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι ἀρέσκοντες τῷ Θεῷ ταῦτα ποιεῖτε, ὥστε φανῆναι Θεοῦ ἀρέσκειαν τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πίστιν καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν διάθεσιν. καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς, φησίν. οὐ γὰρ πρὸς ἕνα χρόνον ὁ διωγμὸς ἐκεῖνος, ἀλλὰ διὰ παντός. ταῦτα τοίνυν, φησὶ, πάντα ἀπὸ πίστεως ποιεῖτε καὶ ἐλπίδος. ὥστε οὐ τὴν ἀν- δρείαν αὐτῶν μόνον ἐδήλου τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ μετὰ πλτμ ροφορίας ἐπίστευον τοῖς ἀποκειμένοις ἐπάθλοις· διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο συνεχώρει ὁ Θεὸς εὐθέως γίνεσθαι διωγμοὺς, ἵνα μή τις εἴπῃ ὅτι ἁπλῶς καὶ κολακεία τὸ κήρυγμα συνίστατο, καὶ ἵνα τὸ θερμὸν αὐτῶν δειχθῇ, καὶ ὅτι οὐ πεισμονὴ ἀνθρωπίνη, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ δύναμις ἦν, ἡ τὰς τῶν πιστευόντων ψυχὰς πείθουσα, ὥστε καὶ πρὸς θανάους μυρίους παρεσκευάσθαι· ὅπερ οὐκ ἃν ἦν, εἰ μὴ εὐθέως κατὰ βάθος τὸ κήρυγμα πεπήγει, καὶ ἕστηκεν ἀκλινές. Εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ Θεοῦ, τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν, ὅτι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐν λόγῳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν δυνάμει, καὶ Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ, καὶ ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ, καθὼς οἴδατε οἷοι ἐγενήθημεν ἐν ὑμῖν δι' ὑμᾶς.

And while faith stirs up towards toils, love causes to endure with labors. "Before God and 'our father'," so that he may say that you are doing this having pleased God, so as to be made out that faith unto Christ and the disposition for him is obsequiousness to God. And "patience/steadfastness," he says. For that persecution is not for a single period of time, but is forever. Well then, all these, he says, you are doing from faith and hope. Therefore, he was showing not only their courage with regard to these events, but also that they were putting their faith with certainty in the out-of-sight rewards; For because of this, God immediately allowed persecution to happen, (namely) so that no one would say that the preaching arose simply and with flattery; and so that it would be shown during their fever, because it was also not a human persuasion, but a miracle of God, one that persuades the souls of the believers, so as to prepare themselves for countless deaths. That would not be just so, had the preaching not been fixed in a descending scale, and had been (instead) set up unswervingly. knowing, brethren beloved by God, [His] choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. (1 Thess. 4-5).

mwh
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Re: tranaltion check

Post by mwh »

Well, I guess Syria is in the news, and the Koran has replaced the Christian bible. Plus ça change, ...

εγειρει προς “is an incentive to”, "motivates". καματους glosses εργον, πονοις glosses κοπος.

αρεσκοντες etc. “… pleasing God [present tense], so that their faith in the Christ and their attitude towards him should be shown to be God’s pleasure” (αρεσκεια picking up αρεσκοντες; their behavior satisfies/pleases/appeases God—all this is explanation of why Paul adds the εμπροσθεν - ημων phrase)

δια παντος “continual” or “continuous”

“You’re doing all this, then, he says, from ‘faith’ and ‘hope’. So …”

τα γινομενα is subject: “So what was going on wasn’t just making clear their courage but …”

The rewards are “stored up”, i.e. they were counting on getting them in the future (elucidating faith and hope)

δια γαρ τουτο … best translated “For the reason God was allowing the persecutions to take place for the moment was so that no-one …”

“so that no-one should say preaching was simply just toadying and so that their fervor should be put on display” (το θερμον is subject)

“and (και) because what was persuading the souls of believers wasn’t human persuasion but the power of God”

“which wouldn’t have been the case unless the preaching had immediately been fixed deep down, and stands unbending” (no “instead”; εστηκε is perhaps for εστηκει, “stood unbending”, “was still standing unbent”)

It seems a very mundane piece of exegesis. For me the most interesting thing about it is how close it stands in relation to ancient commentaries on classical (pagan) authors, both in format and in hermeneutic method.

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