75 IS THE WORD OF GOD INCOMPLETE? The syntax is characterized here by prepositional and participial accumulation amplifying and enriching the semantics, in this parti- cular case, of the intercessory report’s purpose. In 1,9b-10a the phrase “so that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” is further expanded by an ethi- cal purpose: “to live in a way worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in all”. The participial and prepositional phrases that follow in 1,10b- 12 (see figure above: a b c d) amplify and explain this ethical finality. The train of thought in the section then seems to be this: inter- cessory report + cognitive purpose + ethical finality. Within this progression plhro,w (passive) means to be filled with something, i.e. with knowledge. However, the most important assertion is dif- ferent: receiving this knowledge leads to living according to the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the know- ledge of God. Briefly, using plhro,w to describe the purpose of Paul’s intercession in favor of believers also has an ethical nuance. The recent debate on Pauline epistolary introductions has been focused on the source and function of both the valetudinis formula and the introductory thanksgiving (euvcaristw/ formula). Some au- thors have rightly suggested that only the Deuteropauline letters combine thanksgiving reports and intercessory prayer reports 36. In Col 1,9, for example, the expression dia. tou/to picks up the content of the previous thanksgiving and becomes the reason for the Pau- line intercession 37. See, in this sense, the temporal compounds of the reports in Col 1,3b.9a: 36 pa,ntote peri. u`mw/n proseuco,menoi and avf’ h-j h`me,raj hvkou,samen. See the discussion in the following: S.E. PORTER – S.A. ADAMS, Paul and 37 the Ancient Letter Form (Pauline Studies 6; Leiden 2010) 33-100; J.T. REED, “Are Paul’s Thanksgivings Epistolary?”, JSNT 61 (1996) 87-99; P. ARZT, “The Epistolary Introductory Thanksgiving”, NT 36 (1994) 29-46; J.L. WHITE, “Saint Paul and the Apostolic Letter Tradition” CBQ 45 (1983) 433-444; G.P. WILES, Paul’s Intercessory Prayers: The Significance of the Intercessory Prayer Pas- sages in the Letters of St Paul (MSSNTS 24; Cambridge 1974); J.T. SANDERS, “The Transition from Opening Epistolary Thanksgiving to Body in the Letters of the Pauline Corpus”, JBL 81 (1962) 348-362; P. SCHUBERT, Form and Func- tion of the Pauline Thanksgivings (BZNW; Giessen 1939). © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati