Se volesse piantarla di dirci l’esegesi di questo passo, e iniziasse a dirci dove i lessici da lui consultati traducano il passo così, faremmo qualche passo avanti.
Giunti a questo punto credo sia opportuno citare le opere di cui si sta parlando, iniziando dal Kittel:
“Solamente nel quarto vangelo e nella prima di Giovanni si incontra ( una quindicina di volte nel primo e una dozzina nell’altra) un particolare uso di en, indicante la comunione religiosa.
Come predicato, esso appare qualche volta in unione con einai ( Io 10,38; 14,10.11.20; 17,21.23.26; I Io 2,5; 5,50), più di frequente in unione con menein ( Io 6,56; 14,10; 15,4.5.6.7; I Io 2,6.24.28; 3,6.24; 4,12.13.15.16). Volentieri vien fatta rilevare la reciprocità del rapporto ( Io. 6,56; 10,38; 14,10.11.20; 15,4.5; 17.21.23.26; I Io.3,24; 4, 13.15.16). A differenza di Paolo, quest’uso si riferisce anche al Padre, tanto nei suoi rapporti con Gesù, ( Io. 10,38; 14, 10.11) quanto nei rapporti con gli uomini ( I Io. 4,12.15.16); mai invece è riferito allo Spirito. Sorgono così delle formule triadiche, in cui al terzo posto stanno i discepoli ( Io. 14, 20; 17, 21.23.26;) in complesso le formule non sono né estatiche né escatologiche. Partendo da Io. 6,56; 14,23; 15,1 potremmo definirle mistiche in senso lato. Tuttavia esse alludono a una comunione di volontà, basata sul rapporto etico, personale ( I Io. 1,3.6.7; cfr. le formule analoghe con agape e logos; Io. 15,10; I Io. 2,14; 3,17)”.
( Grande Lessico del NT Vol.3 pag 575,576)
"En: a marker of close personal association - ‘in, one with, in union with,
joined closely to.”oti en emoi o pater kagw en tw patri ‘that the Father is in me and
I am in the Father’ Jn 10.38; “meinate en emoi kagw en umin” ‘remain in me and I (will
remain) in you’ Jn 15.4; “eiper pneuma theou oikei en umin” ‘because the Spirit of God
dwells in you’ Ro 8.9; “umei o ekousate ap arch" en umin menetw” ‘let what you
heard from the beginning remain in you’ 1 Jn 2.24; “se de en emoi christo” ‘but Christ
lives in me’ Ga 2.20". ( Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on semantic Domains)
Il DENT PAG.1195 afferma:
Nella terminologia religiosa “en” sta
1) per indicare l’essere pieno di una cosa: il peccato che abita nell’uomo ( Rom. 7: 17.20) ; così pure lo Spirito di Dio ( 8:9.11; 1 Cor.3,16; cfr 1 Tim.4,14; 2 Tim. 1,6); la vita, la gioia, la fede, la parola ( di Cristo) sono nell’uomo ( Gv 6,53; 15,11; 2 Tim. 1,5; Gv 5,38). Viceversa, tutti i tesori della sapienza sono in Cristo ( Col 2,3; cfr 1,19), il mistero e la vita sono nascosti in Dio (Ef.3,9;Col 3,3).
2) Per indicare il legame intimo tra Dio e l’uomo. La frequente affermazione che Dio opera nell’uomo (1 Cor.12,6;Fil 1,6; 2,13; Col.1,29; cfr Mc 6,14; Ef.2,2) ha il suo culmine nella formula paolina Cristos en umin, “Cristo in voi”: Rom 8,10; 2 Cor 13,5;Gal 2,20; 4,19). La reciprocità in questo rapporto caratterizza la formula giovannea di comunione “in me il Padre e io in lui”:Gv 10,38;similmente 14,05 e altrove ( con menein << rimanere>> 6,56; 15,4-7; I Giov. 4,13-15 e passim; con inclusione dei discepoli: Gv 14,20; 17,21,23-26)
Paolo sottolinea ancor di più l’essere “in Cristo” o “nel Signore”; ( en christou o en kuriow, una ventina di volte in Rom. e altrettante in I Cor; inoltre in Fil. 1:1,14; 4,7; II Cor. 5,17 e passim.) spesso in unione con verbi, (vita, grazia,libertà) e sostantivi ( vita, grazia, libertà) e aggettivi (saggio, perfetto, amato). Quindi en christou non significa l’inabitazione mistica in Cristo, ma serve piuttosto al pari della formula affine en pistei, “nella fede” a contraddistinguere uno specifico ambito di esistenza, al quale spesso viene contrapposto l’ambito terreno (en sarki, “nella carne”): Fil 3,3: 1,2,5; Rom 8:85; 1 Tim. 3,16; Film.16)
E infine per quanto riguarda lo studioso D. Wallace preferisco riportare per chiarezza, tutto il contenuto presente alle pag 372-375 della sua grammatica in riferimento alla preposizione greca “ en”
En
A. Basic Uses (with Dative only)
̓En is the workhorse of prepositions in the NT, occurring more frequently
and in more varied situations than any other. It overlaps with the simple dative
uses to a great extent, but not entirely. The following categories are for the
most part painted with broad strokes.
1. Spatial/Sphere: in (and various other translations)
2. Temporal: in, within, when, while, during
3. Association (often close personal relationship): with
4. Cause: because of
5. Instrumental: by, with
6. Reference/Respect: with respect to/with reference to
7. Manner: with
8. Thing Possessed: with (in the sense of which possesses)
9. Standard (=Dative of Rule): according to the standard of
10. As an equivalent for eis (with verbs of motion)
B. Significant Passages Involving En
As varied as the uses of en are, sometimes it is considered even more
elastic than it really is. The following discussion focuses on a few passages in
which the preposition has been viewed as expressing agency or content.
1. En + Dative for Personal Agency?
Some have suggested that either the naked dative or en + the dative can
express personal agency in the NT. However, once a clear definition is given
for personal agency, this will be seen to be a rare or nonexistent category.
Williams defines the dative of agency as denoting “the agent (personal) by
whom something is done. The only difference between means and agency is
that means is impersonal, agency is personal.”
This definition is a little too general. It would be better to say that when en
+ the dative expresses the idea of means (a different category), the instrument
is used by an agent. When agency is indicated, the agent so named is not used
by another, but is the one who uses an instrument. (It may be noted here that
an intermediate agent, usually expressed by dia + the genitive, is an agent who
acts on behalf of another or in the place of another. This agent is not, strictly
speaking, used by another as an instrument would be.) Thus, en + dative to
express means can be (and often is) used of persons, though they are
conceived of as impersonal (i.e, used as an instrument by someone else). For
example, in the sentence “God disciplined me by means of my parents,”
“God” is the agent who used the “parents” as the means by which he
accomplished something. The parents are, of course, persons. But they are
conceived of as impersonal in that they are the instruments used by another.
According to our definition, if en + dative is used to express agency, the
noun in the dative must not only be personal, but must also be the agent who
performs the action. BDF accurately assess the NT situation of the naked
dative used for personal agency: “Dative of agency is perhaps represented by
only one genuine example in the NT and this with the perfect: Luke 23:15
[italics mine].” In summary, we can say that there are no clear examples of
the dative of agency in the NT, and even if the category does exist, it is, by all
counts, exceedingly rare.
However, the slightly different phenomenon of en + the dative is
considered by many to express agency on a rare occasion. Yet no
unambiguous examples are forthcoming. Thus what can be said about the
dative of agency can also be said of en + the dative to express agent: it is rare,
at best.
Mark 1:8 autos de baptisei en pneumati agiw
but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit
Here it is obvious that Christ is the agent (since autos is the subject),
and the Holy Spirit is the means (and perhaps sphere) that the Lord
uses to baptize.
1 Cor.12:13
gar en eni pneumati emeis pantes eis en soma ebaptisthemes
for by one Spirit we all were baptized into one body
Our contention is that this is an illustration of en used for means. By
calling “Spirit” means here does not deny the personality of the Holy
Spirit. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the instrument that Christ uses to
baptize, even though he is a person. Since pneumati agiw clearly
indicated means in Mark 1:8 (as in several other passages dealing with
Spirit-baptism), it is surely not unreasonable to see “Spirit” as the
means here.
Furthermore, if the Holy Spirit is the agent in this text, there is a
theological problem: When is the prophecy of Mark 1:8 fulfilled?
When would Christ baptize with the Holy Spirit? Because of the
grammatical improbability of πνεύματι expressing agent in 1 Cor
12:13, it is better to see it as means and as the fulfillment of Mark 1:8.
Thus, Christ is the unnamed agent. This also renders highly
improbable one popular interpretation, viz., that there are two Spirit
baptisms in the NT, one at salvation and one later.
2. En + Dative for Content?
Rare is the usage of the simple dative to denote the content that is used by
a verb of filling. For en + the dative, this usage is debatable.
Normally, a verb of filling takes a genitive of content; rarely, a simple
dative of content. However, we know of no clear examples in biblical
Greek in which en + the dative indicates content. We should, therefore, seek
some other nuance in such instances, as in Eph 5:18 (discussed below)
Eph 5:18 plerousthe en pneumati
be filled [with, by, in] [the] Spirit
To see en pneumati here as indicating content is grammatically suspect
(even though it is, in many circles, the predominant view). Only if the
flow of argument and/or the lack of other good possibilities strongly
point in the direction of content would we be compelled to take it as
such. There are no other examples in biblical Greek in which en + the
dative after plerow indicates content. Further, the parallel with oinw
as well as the common grammatical category of means suggest that the
idea intended is that believers are to be filled by means of the [Holy]
Spirit. If so, there seems to be an unnamed agent.
The meaning of this text can only be fully appreciated in light of the
plerow language in Ephesians. Always the term is used in connection
with a member of the Trinity. Three considerations seem to be key:
(1)In Eph 3:19 the “hinge” prayer introducing the last half of the letter
makes a request that the believers “be filled with all the fullness of
God” ( plerothte eis pan to pleroma tou theou). The explicit content
of plerow is thus God’s fullness (probably a reference to his moral
attributes).
(2) In 4:10 Christ is said to be the agent of filling (with v 11
adding the specifics of his giving spiritual gifts).
(3) The author then
brings his argument to a crescendo in 5:18: Believers are to be filled by
Christ by means of the Spirit with the content of the fullness of God.
3. Other Significant Passages
One group of significant passages involves the phrase en christo, an
expression found almost solely in the Pauline corpus. The student is
encouraged to consult standard lexical and biblico-theological sources for a
treatment of this phrase.
Other significant passages include: John 14:17; 1 Cor 7:15; Gal 1:16; 1 Pet
2:12.
( Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament pag 372-275)
Chiedo quindi a Polymetis: le opere testè citate in che modo giustificherebbero la resa di “en” con “ unito” nella TNM ?
A presto
Adelfos