οὐ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα ἡμῶν
ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἰδίαν πρόθεσιν καὶ χάριν,
τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ
πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων,
Is there any way to tell whether the verb "given" is referring to grace, purpose, both or something else entirely?
Terry,
Grammatically it could refer to either, as both are feminine nouns, and "given" is a feminine participle. The participle is singular, which suggests it is referring to only one of the two (this isn't absolute, as there can be exceptions). I would, off the top of my head, think that it is referring to grace. It is both the closer noun and, just based on the sense of the passage and words, grace is something that is given, while a purpose doesn't seem as giveable. You could run a bible word study on "purpose" and see how the word, προθεσις is used elsewhere, and whether or not my feeling is correct.
EDIT - I just realized I told you my answer rather than showing you how I would use Logos to arrive at it. I'm in a rush now, so I can't be thorough, but I'll try to come back to it later. In a nutshell though, you can use the reverse interlinears to see whether "given" agrees grammatically with "grace" or "purpose." A Bible word study (as well as consulting good lexicons like BDAG) can help inform you as to how the words are used and whether they can function as the object of a verb like "to give."
I would, off the top of my head, think that it is referring to grace. It is both the closer noun and, just based on the sense of the passage and words, grace is something that is given, while a purpose doesn't seem as giveable.
I started out with that same assessment, but the longer I read the section, the more I began to wonder if both His grace and His purpose were something that had been given. Which is what lead me down this road.
an help inform you as to how the words are used and whether they can function as the object of a verb like "to give."
I hadn't thought using a word study for this. My lexham resources were probably the most helpful, but like you said either of them would be proper grammatically and I was wondering if I had missed something. I haven't even looked in the commentaries yet because I needed to work through the process first.
BTW, any examples of using Logos to solve this would be highly appreciated.
thanks
Just based on a quick look at this passage I would tend to think both have been given. The key to this verse is context. The NASB translates it granted. Grace and purpose was granted us "in" Christ. In Him, or as a result of our relationship with Him we have both the grace of God and purpose.
Paul has been talking about suffering for the gospel and remaining true to his calling to preach the gospel. Romans 8 says that in the midst on Christian suffering we should do several things. First we should not consider our suffering to have equal value to the glory that awaits us in Christ Jesus. Second it says that when we do suffer and that human tendancy to focus on our hardships occurs we will tend to pray in weakness. Weakness in this case meaningthat we do not know, understand, or may not be focused on God;s will in that situation; rather we just want the suffering to end. The Holy Spirit steps in and prays on our behalf becasue He is always focused on the will of the Father. His prayers for the Father's will to be done may oppose our prayer for trouble to end. This culminates in Romans 8:28 when we are told that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
This does not mean that our trouble goes away, it means our faith in God's grace and His promises will result in His knowledge of good, not necessarily our perception of what is good. His knowledge of what is good results in his purpose being accomplished. His purpose in this case is that we will be conformed to the image of Christ.
I think that is the point Paul is making to young Timothy. We have been granted both the grace of God as well as purpose. In 2 Timothy it is His purpose, not ours that is being discussed. He will accomplish His purpose in us.
You may have been looking for more academic input and then the preacher came out of me and got theological. Sorry, my wife says she can;t take me anywhere.
Fred, If I may paraphrase Paul's message to Timothy - Don't apologize for God's Word, or your ministry of proclaiming the Word. The same message applies to you Fred. [;)] and of course to me as well.
I am teaching 2 Tim right now, and having read it n times, I would be at the point where in a normal book you would assume that nothing new would pop up, but God's Word is not a normal book. So when I started to catch the vision that maybe both His grace and His purpose were what had been given from ages past, it was kind of startling. I wanted to see though it this was a concrete structure supported by the grammatical structure (exegetical) or was more expository in nature. The answer was yes!
After exhausting my Greek, and getting an answer from David, I had to finally start researching it in my commentaries. The exegetical ones came to the conclusion that "given" could either be treating purpose and grace as a single unit and thus referring to both, or that it was referring to grace only. The expository ones tended toward having grace as the target of given, although some grudgingly admitted it might refer to both.
Thank you for taking the time to share.
Learned some using PC Beta 12 in VMWare Fusion, including tab width adjustable:
Did name this layout, sync, and open in A14 - visualizer and word by word still need User Interface exposure.
Pondering text - wonder about purpose to show God's grace ? Was Grace given without purpose ?
Marvelous are riches in God's word.
Keep Smiling [:)]
More learning - had missed Grammar focus in tab - updated screen shot with New International Greek Testament Commentary:
I really like the Lexham resources as well as NIGTC, they made the Gold upgrade worth the money.
