tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post1920409944221359667..comments2024-01-29T06:02:39.583-08:00Comments on Suzanne's Bookshelf: Suzanne McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-91227906223316084322011-06-21T12:18:54.737-07:002011-06-21T12:18:54.737-07:00Is there anything in the context that would indica...Is there anything in the context that would indicate Paul is using skeuos to refer to a wife? Wouldn't he just use gune if that is what he meant? Paul doesn't use skeuos anywhere else in all his writings to refer to a wife, does he?BradKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06010789914473231268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-56835122128719751572011-06-21T11:31:22.553-07:002011-06-21T11:31:22.553-07:00Terms like "the blessed vessel" (to kalo...Terms like "the blessed vessel" (to kalon skeuos) are fairly common references to the believers body. I think its just control your own body. <br /><br />Mani is vessel of communion so I don't think the word carries the dehumanizing connotations it does in English.CD-Hosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00304535091189153224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-42848506883794851852011-06-19T12:17:06.248-07:002011-06-19T12:17:06.248-07:00It's nicely colloquial if you just translate i...It's nicely colloquial if you just translate it "literally":<br /><br />"Each of you should handle your own equipment in holiness and respect."<br /><br />C.f. "wedding tackle" :-)Gordon Tishernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-86285086118042381082011-06-19T08:44:54.232-07:002011-06-19T08:44:54.232-07:00Psalm 31:13 leaps the Hebrew-Greek divide: I am be...Psalm 31:13 leaps the Hebrew-Greek divide: I am become like a broken vessel. כלי seems to have a similar range as skeuos which is the LXX for this one item I looked up. The psalms have it in many places, e.g. also 16:7, 139:13 both around the very personal. It never refers to someone else. In the two above the Greek is kidneys but the English of RSV for 16:7 is also a euphemism. The LXX for 139:13 is rendered as procured my kidneys in the NETS. I wonder if there is some relationship to Paul's thought in Thess. <br /><br />But this gets close to the procurement accomplished in the NT - that we are bought with a price. Our bodies are purchased - our vessel and all its parts. How do we then make use of it? By participation in the work of the purchaser, i.e. the one who died for us. This is what is worked out in the later epistles especially Romans 8, 1 Cor 6, etc. I think it is the same experience as the Psalmist that motivates Paul in his mission to the Gentiles. 1 Thess letter is the first record of what he expressed to his hearers in the Spirit.<br /><br />The astonishing part for Paul is that he was sent to the Gentiles in accordance with the instructions to Isaiah, and the tale of Jonah, and of course the psalms. It is possible that psalm 106 was written by someone outside the covenant community (see verse 4).Bob MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11335631079939764763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-1717233710150321552011-06-19T02:30:49.390-07:002011-06-19T02:30:49.390-07:00Suzanne, this is a good question. But I wonder if ...Suzanne, this is a good question. But I wonder if everyone is off the mark in translating this passage. Could <i>skeuos ktasthai</i> in fact mean something like "earn a living"?<br /><br />After all <i>ktasthai</i> usually means "obtain", sometimes "buy", and if <i>skeuos</i> means "wife" it can really only apply to the minority of <i>unmarried</i> men in the Thessalonian church.<br /><br />I guess this has been interpreted in terms of sexual matters because it is sandwiched between <i>porneia</i> in verse 3 and <i>epithumia</i> in verse 5. But the latter word means "covetousness" more than "lust". Verse 6 can very well be understood as about business (<i>pragma</i>, see RSV margin).<br /><br />So my tentative suggestion is that this passage is about practical holiness in the workplace, to put it somewhat anachronistically. This does of course include avoiding <i>porneia</i>. But more importantly it is about earning a living in a holy and honest way, avoiding covetousness and fraud.<br /><br />How would this tie in with your understanding of what the Greek could mean?Peter Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13395635409427347613noreply@blogger.com