And I thought the Greek wasBen C. Smith wrote:Your reading is impossible. The Greek is:Michael BG wrote:I thought that the Greek does not have punctuation and so there is no comma in the Greek. I also read that the word order in Greek is not as important in Greek as in English. Therefore it could be translated as ‘he said to Peter Simon, “are you asleep?”’ and it means the same as ‘he said to Simon Peter, “are you asleep?”’
καὶ ἔρχεται καὶ εὑρίσκει αὐτοὺς καθεύδοντας, καὶ λέγει τῷ Πέτρῳ· Σίμων, καθεύδεις; οὐκ ἴσχυσας μίαν ὥραν γρηγορῆσαι;
“ΚΑὶἔΡΧΕΤΑΙΚΑὶΕὑΡΊΣΚΕΙΑὐΤΟὺΣΚΑΘΕΎΔΟΝΤΑΣΚΑὶΛΈΓΕΙΤῷΠΈΤΡῳΣΊΜΩΝΚΑΘΕΎΔΕΙΣΟὐΚἴΣΧΥΣΑΣΜΊΑΝὥΡΑΝΓΡΗΓΟΡῆΣΑΙ”
Are you really saying that the Greek has comas in it?
Are you talking about different word endings in Greek to show cases?Ben C. Smith wrote:Punctuation has nothing to do with it. In Greek, case is what counts, and Peter and Simon are not even in the same case (Simon is in the vocative; the identical nominative would not make sense here; Peter is in the dative). Something is being said to Peter (therefore outside the quotation), and that something addresses Simon (therefore inside the quotation).
It appears I have not been clear. What I am saying is that if Mark doesn’t care about the specialness of the twelve, then he would not have used “Simon Peter” in his resurrection appearance to link back to the appointment of Simon surnamed Peter as one of the twelve. If he did care about the twelve then it would have made sense to have “the twelve” rather than just the disciples in 16:7.Ben C. Smith wrote:What was your observation, then, based on this understanding? How does this relate to the ending of Mark?Michael BG wrote:I think you might have misunderstood me. I accept that the traditions have more disciples than twelve. I accept that Mark has more disciples than twelve. I accept that Mark passes on a tradition where the twelve are appointed as special in some way. However I don’t think Mark does much with it. Luke I think does do something with it because he differentiates between the many disciples and the twelve apostles