Thursday, December 26, 2013

ONOMA in Philippians 2:9-11 (Moulton-Milligan)

Moulton and Milligan express their view of ONOMA (Philippians 2) when writing:

"By a usage similar to that of the Heb. SHEM, ONOMA comes in the NT to denote the character, fame, authority of the person indicated (cf. Phil. 2:9f, Heb 1:4). With this may be compared the use of the word as a title of dignity or rank, as in P Oxy I.58.6 (A.D. 288) where complaint is made of the number of officials who have devised 'offices' for themselves--ONOMATA hEAUTOIS EXEURONTES, and provision is made that, on the appointment of a single trustworthy superintendent, the remaining 'offices' shall cease-14f. TA DE LOIPA ONOMATA PAUSHTAI."

See the entry for ONOMA in M-M.

2 comments:

Duncan said...

http://papyri.info/search?SERIES=p.oxy&VOLUME=58

Still trying to find specifics but 288CE is not close enough.

Edgar Foster said...

Did you read the other materials I sent, including the links? Robertson (Word Pictures) explains Mt 28:19 in a similar way (i.e., that it pertains to authority). He points out that we not only find evidence for this usage in the papyri, but also in the LXX. ISBE makes a similar argument for LXX often rendering SHEM by ONOMA = authority. So there's evidence for the usage way before 288 CE.