Eis

[redhotmagma]

TDNT
Originally spatial, this word takes on theological significance in the NT.
A. The Spatial Use of eis.
1. The Cosmic and Soteriological Sense. In the NT eis expresses the living connection between divine and cosmic realities. In Greek thought the gods belong to the cosmos. Even dualism makes only a static distinction. Hades is another place; it is not God's world. Even in circles which speak of an ascent of the soul, eis plays only a minor role. Formally the OT speaks in a similar way, as though, when God comes down, he were simply changing place within the same reality (cf. Gen. 18:21; Ex. 3:8). Yet his superiority over all creatures is strongly asserted, as in Ex. 33:18ff.; Isa. 6, so that heaven cannot contain him (1 Kgs. 8:27) and his presence is the willed and gracious address of the covenant God (vv. 28ff.). Judaism thus develops an aversion to anthropomorphic statements and carries the divine transcendence almost to the point of straining the link between God and the world except for a firm belief in providence. Thus the LXX paraphrases Ex. 15:3 and Ex. 24:10, Jubilees omits God's walking in the garden in its rendering of Gen. 3, Palestinian Judaism posits a series of heavens, and apocalyptic works begin to place greater weight on the preposition eis, e.g., in the coming of angels to the world, or in relation to apocalyptic vision. The NT inherits the distinction between the divine and human worlds but bridges the gulf with the concept of fulfilment in Christ. In this context eis takes on a new significance as follows.
a. "Into the world" delimits earthly creation from all other reality. We all come into the world (Jn. 1:9). Sin and death come into the world (Rom. 5:12); there is perhaps a hint of a transcendent background here, though cf. "through one man."
b. Divine love comes into the world to bring salvation. The NT links this with the preexistent Son, although faith focuses more on the goal than the origin. In this regard eis is not present in the Synoptics and is rare in Paul (cf. Rom. 10:6; Phil. 2:5ff.). The thought of God's sending, however, gives it great importance in John (cf. 1 Jn. 4:9), as does that of the Logos himself coming into the world (Jn. 11:27). As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Son sends his disciples (Jn. 17:18). In the light of the incarnation (Jn. 1:14), this derived mission takes on an eternal quality.
c. The Christ who came down for our salvation passes through humiliation into the heavenly world of God. This receives greater emphasis in the NT than preexistence cf. Luke 24:5; Acts 1:11; Heb. 9:24; Eph. 4:8ff., and materially Acts 3:21; Rom. 1:4; Phil. 2:9ff.). A prior journey to the nether regions may be presupposed, as in Rom. 10:7 and especially 1 Pet. 3:19; 4:6 (but not Eph. 4:9).
d. The divine act of salvation forces us to decide where our own path is to lead, either through unbelief and disobedience to destruction (Matt. 7:19; 5:29-30; 3:10; Rev. 19:20; Matt. 13:42; 5:25; 8:12; 25:46), or through faith and obedience to life (Matt. 7:14; 25:21; Luke 16:22; Matt. 5:20; 2 Pet. 1:11), which is present even now (Jn. 5:24); these references usually contain a spatial as well as a stronger of weaker figurative element.
2. The Psychological Sense.
a. eis denotes the intrusion of good or bad influences into the center of personality, e.g., demons in Matt. 9:25, evil from Satan in Jn. 13:2, Satan in Luke 22:3, a wicked purpose from God himself in judgment in Rev. 17:17, the Spirit of God in 1 Th. 4:8; Gal. 4:6, and cf. the prodigal's return to himself in Luke 15:17.
b. With verbs of sending or speaking, eis denotes address; cf. Jesus in Matt. 15:24, God in Acts 2:22, the gospel in Mark 13:10, and cf. also Luke 7:1; 2 Cor. 10:16; 1 Pet. 1:25. By its regular use of such constructions, which are good Greek but rest on the Hebrew, Christianity shows itself to be a religion of the word.
c. eis may also describe a situation, e.g., being led into temptation (Matt. 6:13), or shut up in disobedience (Rom. 11:32), or having every thought brought captive into Christ's sphere (2 Cor. 10:5). This is perhaps also the point in Rom. 6:17; cf. Rom. 5:2; Gal. 1:6.
B. The Temporal Use of eis.
1. When a point of time is given, the sense is "until" (cf. Matt. 10:22; 2 Tim. 1:12). When a period is mentioned, the sense is "for" (cf. Luke 12:19).
2. More common in the NT is the use in which an action is performed with a view to some end, e.g., caring for the day in Mark 6:34, being sealed for the day of redemption in Eph. 4:30, being pure or laying a good foundation for the day of Christ in Phil. 1:10; 1 Tim. 6:1; cf. 1 Pet. 1:5; Gal. 3:23-24. In such cases the reference is usually eschatological.
C. The Modal Use.
eis sometimes denotes intensity, e.g., Jn. 13:1 ("to the utmost" as well as "to the end"); Heb. 7:25; 2 Cor. 10:13 (where the distinction between justifiable and unjustifiable boasting is qualitative); 2 Cor. 4:17 ("in excess to excess" in the sense of beyond all comparison).
D. eis in a Logical Connection.
1. Very occasionally eis states a reason, e.g., "in view of" in Rom. 4:20; cf. Matt. 12:41; 2 Cor. 10:16; Gal. 6:4 where, after testing, the self, not others, must provide reason for boasting.
2. eis denotes appointment, as in Matt. 5:22; 1 Cor. 11:22; Col. 2:22; Jms. 5:3; Rev. 22:2.
a. Divine appointment: the angels are appointed to minister to the heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14), Moses as a witness (Heb. 3:5), Scripture for instruction (Rom. 15:4), Paul to publish good news (Rom. 1:1), believers to salvation (1 Th. 5:9), sonship (Eph. 1:5), or a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3-4), others to destruction or ignoble use (Rom. 9:21ff.; 2 Tim. 2:20).
b. Human appointment: missionaries are appointed to do God's work (Acts 13:2); believers are to take the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ (1 Cor. 11:24-25), and to do all things to God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
3. Consecutive and final eis. eis may denote the directing of an action to a specific end, whether intentionally or incidentally.
a. With a noun or pronominal accusative it usually has a final sense (cf. D.2.), as in "for a witness to them" (Mark 1:44) or "in memory of her" (Mark 14:9). Thus the gospel is God's power "to salvation" (Rom. 1:16), Christ is an expiation "to show God's righteousness" (Rom. 3:25), Paul's mission aims at the obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5), eternal life (1 Tim. 1:16), and edification (Eph. 4:12), and God's praise and glory (Eph. 1:6; Rom. 15:7) are the goals of God's saving action. The use may also be consecutive, as in 1 Cor. 11:17; Rev. 13:3; 2 Cor. 7:9-10; Rom. 10:10; 13:4, where the result, not the purpose, is indicated; cf. Col. 1:11, where endurance and patience are the result of strengthening. Yet the line is a fine one and sometimes precise differentiation is impossible; cf. Rom. 14:1; 1 Cor. 12:13 ("one body" is either the purpose or the result); Rom. 13:4 (wrath is either purpose or result). "To faith" in Rom. 1:17 seems to be final, but "to glory" in 2 Cor. 3:18 is consecutive; neither follows OT analogies such as Jer. 3:9; Ps. 84:7.
b. With nominal accusative or accusative and infinitive eis is mainly final though sometimes consecutive. Rom. 12:3; Matt. 20:19, etc. are final, as are Rom. 1:11; Heb. 2:17; Jms. 1:18, but Heb. 11:3 is consecutive (cf. Rom. 6:12; 2 Th. 2:10), and both uses may be found in Rom. 4:11-12 (consecutive), 16 (final), and 18 (consecutive). As regards guilt, the theological question arises whether it is an immanent result or a divine purpose. "To make them believe" in 2 Th. 2:11 might be consecutive but is probably final in view of the final clause that follows, but Rom. 1:20 cannot be final, since the point is to show the ground of the complaint, and we should thus render: "So that they are without excuse."
E. The eis of Personal Relationship.
1. eis denotes relationship as such in a neutral sense, "with reference to," "relative to" (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 5:32). This is probably the meaning in Luke 12:21 (rich in relation to God) and Rom. 5:18 (with effect upon all).
2. eis may denote hostile relationship, either a. enmity against God, the Son of Man, the Spirit, or God's messengers in the form of sin (cf. Luke 15:18; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 8:12; Mark 3:29 blasphemy), or b. enmity against others as persecution (Jn. 15:21) or wrongdoing (Matt. 18:15; 1 Cor. 8:12). The NT does not use eis for God's reaction to sin or sinners; God is not our enemy.
3. eis denotes a friendly relationship a. between believers (Rom. 12:10; 16:6; 1 Cor. 16:3), b. between God and us (Rom. 5:8) or God and believers (2 Cor. 1:11; 1 Pet. 1:10), and c. between us and God: we were created for God (1 Cor. 8:6), and we are to repent toward God (Acts 20:21) and to believe in (eis) God or Christ, into whom, or whose name, we are baptized. (It should be noted that believing in Christ is rare in the Synoptic Gospels, Acts, and Paul, but common in John's Gospel, where it is found over 30 times between 2:11 and 17:20.).
F. Individual Points and Questions of Hebraisms.
1. eis may occur where one would expect en, e.g., when being in a place results from movement to it, e.g., Matt. 2:23; Mark 1:39; Mark 1:9 (dipping into the Jordan is suggested here); 2 Cor. 1:21. This interchangeability of eis and en is not a Hebraism but is Homeric. Most of the instances are in Luke and Acts (Acts 7:12 etc.).
2. eis can denote the predicate with verbs of becoming (Matt. 21:42), being (Mark 10:8), holding (Matt. 21:46), etc., or the result with verbs like gather (Jn. 11:52), perfect (Jn. 17:23), reckon (Rom. 4:3). This again is not just a Hebraism.
3. eis can replace the genitive or dative (1 Pet. 1:11; 1:4; Eph. 3:16); this is common usage in the Koine and modern Greek.
A. OEPKE, II, 420"34


NET ©   
For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared 1  to the glory that will be revealed to us.
NIV ©
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
NASB ©
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
NLT ©
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
MSG ©
That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times.
BBE ©
I am of the opinion that there is no comparison between the pain of this present time and the glory which we will see in the future.
NRSV ©
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.
NKJV ©
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.


Its amazing what one word has "in" it

[sheila]

 interesting concept,RHM

    took some chewing :mshock:   but I can relate to it. I see Father sitting as a refiner of a mix....seperating the temporal from the eternal....

   He adds the 'Christ Element" that binds spirit to spirit.[mans spirit to Christ's/eternal].and draws it out[seperates] from the dross[temporal/common]

   this process,positive attractant/negative/repulsant priniciple   seperates