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Title: Colossians 1,17 'hold together'
Subtitle: A Co-opted Term
Author(s): COLLINS, C. John
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 95    Issue: 1   Date: 2014   
Pages: 64-87
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.95.1.3186101

Abstract :
The Greek terms rendered 'hold together' in Col 1,17 (συνίστημι), Wis 1,7 (συνέχω), and Sir 43,26 (συγκεῖμαι) do not derive from Septuagint renderings of the Hebrew Bible; instead they are terms that Second Temple Jewish and Greek Christian apologists co-opted from Hellenistic philosophy to commend 'biblical' concepts to the Graeco-Roman world. From these texts we can infer the semantic relationships of these verbs. The 'liturgical composition' in Col 1,15-20 displays a combination of biblical wisdom and co-opted philosophy.


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