.
Klinghardt makes an accurate and scientifically correct distinction here between the reconstructed wording of GMarcion and its original meaning and later interpretations by Marcionites and Tertullian.
Ben and I once discussed the word καταβαίνω (katabainó) in John 4:47–49.
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:35 am
Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote:The word for „go down“ in John's story is καταβαίνω (katabainó) – descending. Maybe there could be a double meaning. Twice the royal official asks the Lord to „go down“ (4:47.49) and at the first time he gets a rebuke. I would therefore not exclude the idea that John's story is about the power of the absent Jesus (the risen Lord). In John's story the „distance“ of the healing could be interpreted as the earthly absence of the Lord above.
Interestingly, I took my translation for all of these gospel passages straight from
my old synopsis, in which I
do translate καταβαίνω as "descend" (my synoptic translations being intentionally literalistic and as consistent as I could make them). I manually changed that translation to post here precisely because I thought it sounded too mystical ...
The Greek word καταβαίνω (katabainó) can mean "coming down" but can also mean „descending“. It has the latter meaning, for example, in
- Mark 1:10 (… he saw the heavens tearing open and the Spirit descending as a dove upon him)
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (Because the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God)
- Revelation 20:1 (I saw an angel descending out of the heaven)
However, this word is not attested for Marcion's incipit, but the same word used in Luke 4:31, namely
κατέρχομαι (katerchomai).
Luke 4:31
And he went down (κατῆλθεν – katēlthen) to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And He was teaching them on the Sabbaths;
κατέρχομαι (katerchomai) means usually (with few exceptions) coming down from high land to lower land or to the coast, for example in
- Luke 9:37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
- Acts 11:27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Since Marcion's Gospel used the same word as Luke 4:31, it has the same meaning. In Luke 4:31 Jesus comes down from Nazareth to Capernaum at the Sea of Galilee.