P. Derek Overfield PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

'to lead someone captive in a triumphal procession', but
this, they argue, gives rise to the modified meaning
'generally triumph over'. We accept that this is possible
but at the same time insist that this modified meaning
must, on all considerations of lexical evidence, be very
secondary to the original meanings. We note Williamson's
comment (p.320) at this point " •.• if Paul used thriambeuo
in the general sense of 'triumph over' (i.e. 'win a victory
over') it represents, so far as all the lexical evidence
reveals, a personal idiosyncrasy". Williamson, however,
goes on to consider this possibility only ultimately to
reject it, quoting with approval G. Delling, "epLO+L!3ef>oo",
TDNT 3, p.159, who points out that " in the NT it is used
with the acc. in sense b ('to lead in a triumphal procession')
••• He [Jesus] leads the &PXaC as a Roman emperor
leads his prisoners, Col 2:15".
IIOJ.B. Lightfoot, St. Paul's Epistles to the Co18ssians
and to Philemon, London: 1876, loc.cit., accepts that the
verb is in the middle voice and argues that it therefore
cannot mean 'disarm'; this meaning being contrary to the
use of the middle voice of the same verb elsewhere, e.g.
Col 2:11. More recent authorities can find no exact
parallel with respect to voice and meaning of thIs verb,
cf B-D- par.~16,l.
IllThe former is favoured by J.A.T. Robinson, The Bodv,
London: 1952; p. 41: "It is through the cmpl; that death
and its forces have control over human nature. The
dying Jesus, like a king, divests Himself of that flesh,
the tool and medium of their power, and thereby exposes
them to ridicule for their Pyrrhic Victory". Lightfoot,
Colossians, p.256, accepts th.e latter when he writes:
"The powers of evil, which had clung like a Nessus robe
around his humanity, were torn off and cast aside for
ever" •
112Wh h h' . h . f' f t '- '- h ld
et er t 1S 1S t e case or 1 1n ac £:\1 au't'tp s ou
be translated 'in it', i.e. 'in the cross', is really of
little consequence. Whichever is correct grammatically,
we are surely right in assuming that in either instance
the author would intend the same thing theologically:
!y afJ't'~ signifies the whole death-resurrection-exal tation
motif.
113This statement is not intended to make any judgement
on the authorship of Ephesians. The line followed in
this essay is that Pauline authorship of the epistle
cannot be considered as an established certainty. If
in fact we could assume Pauline authorship then any
similarity between Romans and EpheSians would provide
a much stronger base for theological conclusions.
Xxxvi