05_Biblica_1_A_Ferda_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:17 Pagina 564 564 TUCKER S. FERDA verse (3,1) that the “you” (from 2,22) are Gentiles on behalf of whom Paul became a prisoner. In each of these three cases, AE draws an eth- nic distinction via pronouns for the purpose of proclaiming the unity between Jew and Gentile accomplished “in Christ Jesus” (2,13-14). It can be regarded as probable, therefore, that the “you also” (kai. umeij) in 1,13 draws attention to Gentile ethnicity and looks forward `/ to the exhortation for Jew/Gentile unity 26. After drawing in Gentile hearers with “you also”, AE recounts their “conversion-initiation” in an awkward sentence framed around two par- ticiples (avkou,santej, pisteu,santej) and the main verb (evsfragi,sqhte) 27. The aorists suggest that the hearing, believing, and being sealed oc- curred at a definite moment, which again implies that AE reflects on the initial reception of the gospel 28. It is less clear, however, how to re- late the participles to the main verb: are the “hearing” and “believing” antecedent to the “being sealed” or contemporaneous? In New Testa- ment literature it is statistically accurate to say that the action expressed by an aorist participle “is generally antecedent” to the main verb (cf. e.g. Matt 4,2; 27,3.5; Mark 1,31; Col 1,3.4; Acts 17,31; Heb 1,3) 29. But it is also true that the aorist participle can be contemporaneous, an- tecedent, or subsequent (rarely) to the main verb 30. Thus one’s final de- cision needs to be made on contextual grounds 31. The suggestion here does not imply that the Ephesian audience(s) was 26 exclusively Gentile, as one increasingly finds arguments in Ephesian schol- arship for a Jewish Christian contingent in the original readership. Cf. e.g. J. MUDDIMAN, The Epistle to the Ephesians (London 2001) 16-17. A mixed con- gregation would only strengthen the thesis of this study (see below). D.P. EWALD, Die Briefe des Paulus an die Epheser, Kolosser und Phile- 27 mon (Leipzig 1910) 86, says the syntax is “verfelt”. See also the discussion in W.M.L. DE WETTE, Kurze Erklärung der Briefe an die Colosser, an Phile- mon, an die Epheser und Philipper (Leipzig 1847) 101. Cf. F. BLASS, Grammar of New Testament Greek (London 1911) 193. 28 So H.W. SMYTH, Greek Grammar (Cambridge 1956) 420. See further 29 e.g. H.E. DANA and J.R. MANTEY, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Tes- tament (New York, NY 1927) 230. For exceptions see C.F.D. MOULE, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek (Cambridge 1953) 100. Note E.D. BURTON, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament 30 Greek (Chicago, IL 1903) 61: “The Aorist Participle of Antecedent Action does not denote antecedence; it is used of antecedent action, where antecedence is implied, not by the Aorist tense as a tense of past time, but in some other way” (italics orig.). Cf. SMYTH, Greek Grammar, 419 (“[temporal connotation] de- pends on the context”); S.E. PORTER, Verbal Aspect in the Greek of the New Tes- tament, with Reference to Tense and Mood (New York, NY 1989) 102-108. Contra C.L. ROGERS JR. and C.L. ROGERS III, The New Linguistic and 31 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati