Monday, April 29, 2019

Translating 1 Corinthians 11:20: Deipnon-Part II

Greek: Συνερχομένων οὖν ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔστιν κυριακὸν δεῖπνον φαγεῖν,

Admittedly, most translations usually render 1 Cor. 11:20 as "Lord's supper," but does this mean "evening meal" is a mistranslation or wrong? What I've found is that "Lord's supper" or some variant thereof is largely governed by tradition.

The context of 1 Cor. 11:20 lends itself to the translation "evening meal." For instance, 1 Cor. 11:23 states:

"For I received from the Lord that same thing that I handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was to be arrested, took bread" (Byington)

Paul explicitly writes that Jesus instituted his deipnon at night, and we know that Christ likely introduced this meal after Passover, which occurred that night of Nisan 14 even though another proposed date is Nisan 15. In any case, the evidence suggests a nocturnal observance of the Lord's deipnon. Are there other indications that "evening meal" is not a mistranslation?

"The common noun, deipnon, was used for the main daily meal, usually taken in the evening; see Luke 14:12 (cf. Luke, 1047). It could also denote a festal meal or banquet (Luke 14:16, 24)." (Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 434).

John 13:2, 4 speaks of the deipnon held by the Lord, and this observance occurred at night. Compare John 13:30. See George L. Parsenios, Departure and Consolation: The Johannine Farewell Discourses in Light of Greco-Roman Literature, 117.

Parsenios writes: "John's Last Supper scene is roughly modeled on the symposium format. It is a deipnon followed by a communal gathering" (page 123).

For information on how writers use deipnon in the Septuagint, see https://lexicon.katabiblon.com/index.php?lemma=%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BD&diacritics=off

Also see https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/deipnon-e313040

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