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Loading...The textual problem of 1 Thess 2:7, as I have started to outline it, is an unusually interesting one for textual critics, since the arguments for one reading or another seem to cancel each other out so neatly. It is a difference of only one letter. Did Paul remind the Thessalonians that when he and his missionary colleagues were with them they became like “infants” among them rather than great, powerful, and demanding apostles? Or did he say they became “gentle” among them?
Now, you might be saying: Who Cares? Well, it does matter to New Testament interpreters. It may not matter like having a passage that determines a major doctrine (Who was Christ? Was his death an atoning sacrifice? Is there a trinity?). But there are lots of things that matter that are not major doctrines. Any scholar of the New Testament wants to know the basic gist of each book of the New Testament; and its major themes and ideas; and the meaning of each of its passages; and the meaning of each of its verses; and the meaning of each of its words.
And here is a textual variant that affects the meaning of a verse and of an entire passage. What was Paul saying? Was he saying that he and his companions were gentle? Or was he saying they became infants? As we saw in the previous post, it appears to be impossible to decide the issue simply on the question of which text is more likely to be an accidental alteration. So what else might we consider?
Here is one approach to the problem that exegetes have taken, leading again to mixed results. Why not
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Interesting to see how much can be said over one letter – all these arguments make sense and yet none seem overwhelming. Regarding 2 Thessalonians “not counting”, why would that be? If the 2 Thessalonians writer was wanting to imitate 1 Thessalonians, the text available at that time would have surely been a very early copy indeed.
I do not think you entered into discussions about dating of variants so I can’t take it further than that.
So of the many possible explanations, and from the evidence you presented, I would go for:
Original = gentle,
Copyist change TO infants via error, induced by the nuns 😉 , but ALSO by the presence of the theme of children in the sentence (and almost certainly in the same segment).
Your analysis is thorough and thought provoking. If we must choose in 1Thessalonians, though, I’d go with “gentle” rather than “infants.”
The verse that follows Gal 19 is: “I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
In this instance Paul’s, use of the word “infants” seems to carry a negative connotation (as do iterations of the word in previous epistles) because in the very next sentence he subtly continues his rant against the Galatians whose disloyalty — and lack of financial support — has caused Paul to be “perplexed” with them, so perplexed and perhaps so vexed that he addresses them with mixed metaphors!
My other reason for “gentle” in 1 Thessalonians is your assessment that Paul consistently shades the words “children” and “infants” in a negative light, revealing a significant, fundamental difference between Jesus and Paul.
Jesus spoke in simple, homespun parables accessible to the uneducated, and perhaps children — whom he highly regarded.
One example among many: Lk 18: 16 — But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.)
Paul’s epistles employed lengthy rhetorical arguments and novel theological concepts that would have been incomprehensible to children and probably just as bewildering to adults.
(My favorite Paul story takes place in Acts when during one of Paul’s sermons a man sitting by a window nods off and falls to the street below — very nearly bored, or befuddled, to death!)
“Infants” or “gentle,” Paul’s intent in 1 Thessalonians would be realized: He is coyly seeking to present himself as meek, mild and non aggressive, even though a reading between the lines of 1 Thessalonians reveals a Paul who as much a Christian authoritarian as he once was an anti-Christian authoritarian.
Paul seems to me to have adopted the mantle of self-proclaimed high priest of Christianity and he is determined to issue commands to his converts.
The stories he told of Jesus’s resurrection are on par with the super powers of Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, etc. And Paul’s punishment for transgressors is not death, but perhaps something worse — eternal damnation. He relies just as heavily on threats and fear as well as the promise of salvation.
Is it at all possible that Paul’s popularity and effectiveness among the so-called “pagan” Greeks and Romans was a result of the way his authoritarian tone paralleled the my-way-or-the-highway cultic worship of various gods as demanded of citizens by the secular authorities in Rome — and previously the Greek city states?
Absent a genuine revelatory experience, which Paul could have but not so much those who followed, weren’t converts expected to worship, behave and also believe (a new demand as dictated by Paul) in an uncritical and submissive manner — similar to the demands once required by authorities of Greek and Roman citizens? Wouldn’t Paul’s Christ have been compatible with the pagan deities — in tone if not substance, and therefore a recognizable, familiar and viable “god” for the gentiles?
Thanks for considering.
Paul wouldn’t have seen it this way, but it may be true nonetheless.
Interesting look at textual forensics. I’m with you most of the way. I’m not sure how much weight to give the rule of dissimilarity (par. 18) in this instance in light of all of the evidence, especially since the previous post suggested that a change may have arisen through an aural ambiguity without a scribe necessarily considering the meaning in context as he wrote. Still, the possibility of an intentional change exists, and you’ve shown how problematic the text can be. Is there a hierarchy of priority for the application of criteria like the rule of dissimilarity? My guess is that it is like any other rule of evidence, and that the weight would vary on a case-by-case basis.
Yes, it’s very much a case-by-case judgment.
Does not its use in 2 Thess. suggest that its author at least has encountered a version where its written “gentle”? How much of evidence would that be?
No, because 2 Thess. doesn’t have any parallel to this verse.
What sleuthery!
Would the two words have sounded exactly the same to a native speaker, or would there have been a quantum of
Inflection that would have sounded more poetic to a syrro-Phoenician ear?
They would have sounded the same with the preceding word ending in a nun.
a ‘nun’? surely you mean ‘nu’ unless I have my languages mixed up?
Ha! It was a rough morning. Yes, a nu. (Unless scribes were writing Hebrew….)
hilarious!
Hence the importance of a gin and tonic in these matters….
I can see how something like these variants can drive you crazy. Interesting problem. I agree it must be consistent with his writing.
If the author of 2 thess based it on 1 thess, can we tell which variant he was using?
No, because 2 Thess. does not have a parallel to this verse.
HEY BART WONDERING IF YOU CAN POST FOR ME THANKS !
1 Thessalonians the earliest we have in holy bible ?
Nag hammadi alphabetical index, book of enoch all the others?
Random i know, but you know me when i comes to Gospel of thomas
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
(1) And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”
(30) Jesus said, “Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him.”
(31) Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him.”
(32) Jesus said, “A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”
(33) Jesus
Line 30
Jesus ! There Gods, Gods are one with Jesus
Prophet in village Heals who know
Said Being, A and fall ! It Jesus.
Mirror Images like John 21 20 last supper painting Beloved Disciple mirror image clothing 🙂
Jesus fall and a being said, know who heals village. In prophet Jesus.
Jesus with one. Are Gods. Gods there ! Jesus!
This seems somewhat esoteric, but it’s interesting to learn the “process” by which scholars come up with the most likely original text and to learn that there is not complete certainty about what was the most likely original text. Are there similar controversies concerning texts regarding more substantial issues like the divinity of Christ, the atonement, homosexuality, the role of women in the church, etc.?
Yes, some! But not hundreds.
I think you meant 2 Timothy 2:24 and not 2 Thess. 2:24? (Note this explains why everyone was asking about whether you could use 2 Thess. to figure out what was used in 1 Thess.)
Ah, right!