Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

1 The proconsul prevailed [a] upon him again, saying “Swear an oath to the providence of Caesar!”

“If you vainly imagine [b] that I will ‘swear an oath to the providence of Caesar,’ as you say, and you pretend to be ignorant of who I am, here me plainly,” [c] Polycarp answered. “I am a Christian. So, if you desire to learn the message of Christianity, [d] name the day and give me a hearing.” [e]

[a] Ἐπιμένοντος δὲ In an attempt to clean up the English we have supplied the referent (proconsul) for the assumed actor, reflecting a more substantive, rather than temporal, flavor of the participle.

[b] κενοδοξέω hold a false opinion, vainly imagine (BAGD, 427). Used in 4 Maccabees 5:10, “It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt.” (NRSV) It might also be noted that the first part (viz. κενο) of this compound word may mean empty. Hence, the idea of hollow belief.

[c] παρρησίας plainly, confidently (BAGD, 630). Here it follows μετὰ and picks up an adverbial flavor. St. Peter employs μετὰ παρρησίας in Acts 2:29 in his Pentecost sermon, ἐξὸν εἰπεῖν μετὰ παρρησίας πρὸς ὑμᾶς περὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Δαυὶδ…. I may speak confidently to you concerning the patriarch David…(author’s translation, NA27).

[d] τὸν τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ μαθεῖν λόγον seems to circumscribe mere doctrine.

[e] δὸς ἡμέραν καὶ ἄκουσον. lit., give a day and listen. “…give me a hearing” I have taken directly from Lightfoot’s translation.