ANALUO. PHIL. 1:23

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 22, 1878

ANALUO. PHIL. 1:23.

“1. Is the original Greek word for “return” in Luke 12:36, the same as the one for “depart” in Phil. 1:23, and also for “return” in the Septuagint of Joshua 22:8? 2. What is the meaning of analusai? 3. Is the following rendering of Phil. 1:23 in the Emphatic Diaglott correct or allowable, “I have an earnest desire for the returning and being with Christ”?”

B. A. S.

ANS. The meaning of analuo is given by Robinson as follows: “To unloose, to undo; of a prisoner, to release. In N. T. intrans., to make one’s self loose, to break up, to depart. a) Pr. ἐκ τῶν γάμων, Luke 12:36; here the idea of returning home is implied. b) Trop. to depart from life, to die. Phil. 1:23; comp. 2 Tim. 4:6.”

There is no idea of return connected with the word unless the breaking up or departure from some place is in order that the person may return home, or to some place where he has formerly been, as in Luke 12:36.

The same word is used in Luke 12:36, and Phil. 1:23. The word does not occur in Josh. 22:8. The word there used is aperchomai, giving the form apelthosan. 3. The rendering of Phil. 1:23 given in the Emphatic Diaglott, is not correct nor allowable. Phil. 1:23 is not parallel with Luke 12:36. In Luke the language refers to Christ; in Philippians, Paul refers to himself. Strictly translated, Luke would read, “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will depart from the wedding, that when he cometh,” etc. Here we learn that when he departs from the wedding he comes for his people here below; hence the translators very properly connected it with the idea of returning, since it was in relation to men that this movement of Christ is brought to view.

But in Phil. 1:23, Paul speaks of what he desires in reference to himself: “Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,” or, “having a desire for the departing and the being with Christ.” The manifest impropriety of applying this to Christ is seen when we consider that the same one who departs is finally to be with Christ.

A further proof that this refers to Paul and not to Christ is found in 2 Tim. 4:6, where Paul says, “The time of my departure is at hand;” and the word he here uses for “departure” is analuseos, from analusis, a noun derived from the verb analuo, which is used in Phil. 1:23. We might as well translate 2 Tim. 4:6, “The time of my returning is at hand,” as to translate Phil. 1:23, “Having a desire for the returning.”

So far as an explanation of the passage is concerned, there is not the least difficulty in translating the word by the terms “to depart,” and letting it refer to Paul, and understanding it of his death. Hence there is no necessity of trying to bring in the far-fetched and unsustained idea of the return of Christ.