christology, greco-roman religious piety 237
there is also general consensus about the meaning of lines four and
five. the language of line four ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν calls to mind that of luke
24:47: καὶ κηρυχθῆναι ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ μετάνοιαν εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν εἰς
πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. the plural ἐν ἔθνεσιν and its inclusive scope over-against
the exclusivity of Judaism is to be noted. the fifth line ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ
recalls the faithful saying of 1 tim 1:15: Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον
ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι. “among the nations” and “the world” strike a universal
chord in terms of the gospel’s inclusiveness similar to 1 tim 2:4: ὃς πάντας
ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας.
the difficulty in unpacking the compact language of v. 16 is evident in
the bewildering opinions regarding the meaning of ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι.
the fact that the grammar can be construed in two different ways com-
plicates matters. if ἐν plus the dative is local, then the sense would be
“vindicated in the spiritual realm.”79 if ἐν plus the dative is instrumental,
the sense would be “vindicated by the spirit.” the parallelism between
ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί and ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι suggests a local “in.” the
phrase ἐν πνεύματι would then be poetic shorthand for “in the realm of the
spirit.”80 lines 1 and 2 could then be considered a condensed form of rom
1:3–4: Christ appeared in the human realm ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα
(rom 1:3). and he was vindicated in the spiritual realm when god τοῦ
ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν
(rom 1:4). the aorist divine passive ἐδικαιώθη supports this construal.81
the third strophe ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις is equally problematic and opinions
similarly varied. he appeared to ἀγγέλοις is the general consensus. the
debate revolves rather around the meaning of ἀγγέλοις. some translate
ἀγγέλοις as “messengers,” referring to the reports regarding Jesus’ resur-
rection (e.g., ἀπήγγειλαν ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς ἕνδεκα καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς λοιποῖς,
79 r. C. h. lenski thinks ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι has to do with Jesus’ holy obedience
even to death (The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalo-
nians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon [minneapolis: augsburg, 1961], 612). lea speaks
of Jesus “declared righteous in the sphere of his human spiritual nature” (1, 2 Timothy,
Titus, 125–26). J. h. Bernard supposes the phrase means “proven to be the son of god
by his words and works” (The Pastoral Epistles [Cambridge greek testament; Cambridge:
Cambridge university Press, 1989], 63). marshall proposes “vindicated in the supernatu-
ral mode of Jesus’ two-stage existence as characterized by the activity of the holy spirit”
(Pastoral Epistles, 525–26); compare towner, Timothy and Titus, 280–81. lock suggests
“kept sinless through the action of the spirit upon his spirit [sic]” (Pastoral Epistles, 45).
Knight (Pastoral Epistles, 185) and oden (First and Second Timothy and Titus, 144) argue for
vindication as god’s son by the spirit’s raising him from the dead.
80 see maximilian Zerwick, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament (rome:
Pontifical Biblical institute, 1996), 631.
81 Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §236.