Creed...rising again

[leoila]

Hi,

Can someone please explain to me why , in the Creed, we say “…on the third day He rose AGAIN”…why “again”? When did he rise the first time?

thanks!
L

 

[PJR]

I think it just refers to rising to life again. I could be wrong. Alive-dead-alive again.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

This has already been discussed in the last week or so. The Greek uses the term “reclaim” with regard to His life, and so the English translation has been “again” to indicate this reclamation.

Deacon Ed

 

[leoila]

Deacon Ed:

This has already been discussed in the last week or so. The Greek uses the term “reclaim” with regard to His life, and so the English translation has been “again” to indicate this reclamation.

Deacon Ed

Could you kindly give me the reference for your answer? I asked a Greek friend in Oxford and here is what she says:

""the Greek text (in translation) would read:
‘and the third day he rose from the dead’ -
the verb in ancient Greek is ‘anistamai’; the participle is ‘anastas’
this is translated as ‘rose from the dead’ “”

Thanks!
L

 

[Zooey]

PJR:

I think it just refers to rising to life again. I could be wrong. Alive-dead-alive again.

That’s the way I understand it…After all, He was returning to life; so, He was alive again.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

leoila:

Could you kindly give me the reference for your answer? I asked a Greek friend in Oxford and here is what she says:

""the Greek text (in translation) would read:
‘and the third day he rose from the dead’ -
the verb in ancient Greek is ‘anistamai’; the participle is ‘anastas’
this is translated as ‘rose from the dead’ “”

Thanks!
L

Your friend stopped one word too soon – the very next word in the Creed is “hEmerai” which means to reclaim. The Greek I have is “kai anastanta tEi tritEi, hEmerai, kai anelthonta eis tous othranous…” (from the Symbolum Nicaenum). The text from the Constantinoplitan-Nicean Creed (which is what everybody uses) is only slightly different…

Deacon Ed

 

[Edward_Pothier]

Deacon Ed:

Your friend stopped one word too soon – the very next word in the Creed is “hEmerai” which means to reclaim. The Greek I have is “kai anastanta tEi tritEi, hEmerai, kai anelthonta eis tous othranous…” (from the Symbolum Nicaenum). The text from the Constantinoplitan-Nicean Creed (which is what everybody uses) is only slightly different…

Deacon Ed

The word for “rising” is the participle from anistEmi, namely anastanta. This carries with it the idea of “standing up” or “standing again”. Hence the “rose again” of the English creed.

The “tEi tritEi hEmerai” has nothing to do with “reclaim” but is the temporal “on the third day”.

Edward Pothier

 

[leoila]

Edward Pothier:

The word for “rising” is the participle from anistEmi, namely anastanta. This carries with it the idea of “standing up” or “standing again”. Hence the “rose again” of the English creed.

The “tEi tritEi hEmerai” has nothing to do with “reclaim” but is the temporal “on the third day”.

Edward Pothier

Thank you very much! I can take this as making sense. However from an academic point of view I just wish to share my friend’s further comment (below). I wonder why we don’t use a clearer translation.:

“”‘Anistamai’ and consequently the ‘participle’ ‘anastas’ means stand up.‘Anastasis’ the noun is translated as ‘resurrection’ in english. Of course ‘re-’ in English entails the meaning of ‘again’. In ancient/ modern Greek ‘ana’, as in: ana + istamai > anistamai, usually denotes motion: up, on, upon, upwards and it can also be used to show distribution (in numeric terms). It can sometimes entail the meaning of 'again:e.g. the english 're’distribute in greek is 'ana’dianemo. In both cases ‘re-’ and ‘ana-’ mean ‘distribute again’. However, it makes more sense to me to translate anistamai as ‘stand up’ (come back to life) instead of ‘stand/ rise again’ “”

Thanks to everyone for helping me out!
L