Date: 14 Aug 1997 19:00:38 +1000 From: (Michael Hore)

* (Christian Graus) writes:

** On 11 Aug 1997 15:47:38 +1000, (Michael Hore) wrote:

** Nononono… these verses can’t possibly be interpreted to mean that ** there’s only ONE UNIQUE manifestation – verse 7 is explained fully ** by verse 8-10 which you quote:

* Then why does it say THE manifestation is given to all ? In full it * says that the gifts are distributed in the church BUT the * manifestation is given to all. Read it.

I did, but unfortunately I used the Greek and not that magnificent translation, so I totally failed to see the meaning you got out of it. Silly of me. Guess I shouldn’t have bothered learning Greek for four years then spending 16 years doing Bible translation…

Sorry for the sarcasm, but really, my patience is wearing a little thin. “But” is not an accurate translation of the particle _de_ in that context (or just about anywhere, for that matter). It’s a connective, linking the clause with the preceding one, not implying any contrast. If Paul had meant it in a contrastive sense, he would have used _alla_.

I’ve already explained in another post the reason for the definite article.

Chris, you and Michael are trying to make the passage say something like this (paraphrasing a bit here to bring out the point we’re disagreeing about):

“There are various ministries, but the same Lord. And there are various workings, but it is the same God who is working everything in all of them. But to each person there is given one manifestation of the Spirit (tongues) for mutual benefit. Moreover, to one person is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another …

But the passage doesn’t say that. If Paul meant that, he didn’t know how to write Greek. The passage means this:

“There are various ministries, but the same Lord. And there are various workings, but it is the same God who is working everything in all of them, in this way: to each person the Spirit manifests himself for the common benefit. In particular, to one person is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another …

Now if you can find somebody who knows Greek who will support your interpretation, then please tell us – I’d certainly be very interested – but otherwise please don’t waste our time.

Mike Hore