Just a Busybody? A Look at the Greco-Roman Topos of Meddling for Defining Hebrew in 1 Peter 4:15

Abstract

(ProQuest Information and Learning: ... denotes formulae omitted.) Near the end of 1 Peter, the author of the letter lists four activities that his audience is to avoid as they suffer for Christ's sake. The first three are not surprising: But let none of you suffer as murderer (...), thief (...), an evildoer (...) (1 Pet 4:15). The final activity, however, has caused much consternation for scholars and translators more particularly. Is ... to be translated embezzler, informer, or errant bishop? Or should be rendered as in most modern English translations with one of number of related English equivalents: meddler (NIV, ESV [English Standard Version]), busybody (KJV, NKJV, CEV) or mischief-maker (RSV, NRSV)? I will argue that the latter constellation of ideas (busybody, meddler, mischief-maker) reflects the author's purpose for using ..., but without the rather innocuous associations of these terms in English. In fact, the Greco-Roman idea of meddling or interfering in other people's affairs was an activity that caused serious opposition and may have even evoked revolutionary overtones. More pointedly, could refer to inappropriate movement outside of one's assigned role in society. This connotation may adhere to the author's usage of ... in 1 Pet 4:15. In the larger purview of 1 Peter, the prohibition against this particular behavior would fit well with the admonition in the Haustafel for Christians to submit to and remain within the sphere in which they find themselves (2:11-3:12). In the end, the author of 1 Peter entreats his audience to refrain from activity that will impede the progress of the gospel, in the case of ..., to refrain from meddling, that is, transgressing prescribed social boundaries.1 I. LEXICAL DISCUSSION OF ... The term ... (1 Pet 4:15) is hapax legomenon in the NT that does not occur elsewhere in extant ancient Greek writings prior to the fourth century C.E. Though the two occurrences in Epiphanius (Anc. 12 and Pan. 66.85; both fourth century C.E.) and the single occurrence in Dionysius the Areopagite (Ep. 8.1; fifth century C.E.) lend support for understanding ... in connection with the Greco-Roman concept of meddling,2 the lateness of the three instances and their lack of direct dependence on 1 Pet 4:15 make these later sources suggestive rather than definitive for the meaning of ... in 1 Peter. Given the lack of lexical evidence from contemporaneous Greek sources, scholars have been forced to move to etymological considerations to define .... That the word is clearly compound may allay fears of committing an etymological fallacy, especially if, as is likely, the author of 1 Peter coins the term for his particular situation.3 In addition, early precedent for drawing on etymological considerations is evident in the Greek manuscripts. Two variant readings, ... and ..., indicate that etymology was at least one way that scribes attempted to define the obscure ....4 The combination of ... (not one's own) and ... (one who observes or watches over) would, at first blush, seem to point to person who concerns himself/herself in the affairs of another.5 In support of this, Hermann W. Beyer indicates, [w]henever ... is used [in compound], always denotes an activity which is foreign to the doer, or which is not his concern.6 The sense of concerning oneself in another's affairs, that is, meddling, is what many have argued that ... means.7 In fact, most modern English translations move in this direction, as the examples above indicate.8 Nevertheless, the apparently anomalous nature of the final English equivalent in the fourfold list has raised questions about the appropriateness of such definition. Murderer, thief, evildoer... busybody: Does not the latter provide poor fit with the former three?9 In an argument for ... as more serious offense, BDAG suggests that it is questionable whether such [meddling] behavior would merit the kind of reprisal suggested by the context and notes that a more serious type of crime has been suggested. …