Nice! I had (pleasantly) forgotten that so many people's reaction to reading this would be to talk about sin and condemnation xD
When I read this in Greek, I wonder if we can read merimnate as likely meaning don't be mentally preoccupied with something *alone*. And, like you say, in an encouraging way.
I think some older philosophical uses of merimnaw use it for meditation and individual ponderings, potentially emphasizing the "meri" part of things. Like "being separated from others, bring something to mind". I wonder if Paul is also using this verb rather than another to emphasize the "meri" part of it as well. If so, there may be a diction based argument to also support your conclusion: Paul doesn't want people to be alone with their mental burdens!
Yes, excellent thoughts. Don’t ruminate and don’t be distracted to pieces over this make a lot of linguistic sense. Isn’t it nice to be out of circles that would condemn all worry as sin?
Hey Becky, have you run into anyone advocating that merimnaō be translated as something like "burdened by carrying/responding to an issue alone/isolated"?
I have not seen that in lexicons or commentaries yet, but I am still at the beginning stages of my research on this word! Have you seen it used that way anywhere?
No I haven't, but I have been wondering if the verses that follow the use of this word, specifically talking about giving the concern over to God or relying on God, would add context to it. Just curious really :)
This is beautiful! Thank you!
Nice! I had (pleasantly) forgotten that so many people's reaction to reading this would be to talk about sin and condemnation xD
When I read this in Greek, I wonder if we can read merimnate as likely meaning don't be mentally preoccupied with something *alone*. And, like you say, in an encouraging way.
I think some older philosophical uses of merimnaw use it for meditation and individual ponderings, potentially emphasizing the "meri" part of things. Like "being separated from others, bring something to mind". I wonder if Paul is also using this verb rather than another to emphasize the "meri" part of it as well. If so, there may be a diction based argument to also support your conclusion: Paul doesn't want people to be alone with their mental burdens!
Yes, excellent thoughts. Don’t ruminate and don’t be distracted to pieces over this make a lot of linguistic sense. Isn’t it nice to be out of circles that would condemn all worry as sin?
There IS a Greek work for anxiety and that isn’t the one Paul chose to use here.
Hey Becky, have you run into anyone advocating that merimnaō be translated as something like "burdened by carrying/responding to an issue alone/isolated"?
I have not seen that in lexicons or commentaries yet, but I am still at the beginning stages of my research on this word! Have you seen it used that way anywhere?
No I haven't, but I have been wondering if the verses that follow the use of this word, specifically talking about giving the concern over to God or relying on God, would add context to it. Just curious really :)