04_Biblica_Collins_Layout 1 01/04/14 11:47 Pagina 78 78 C. JOHN COLLINS I will focus on these verbs when they are used to describe God’s relationship to the world, specifically, to his constructing and main- taining of the world (e.g., ta. pa,nta or o` ko,smoj). The usage ap- pears consistent all through the different time periods. 1. suni,sthmi The verb suni,sthmi is a compound based on i[sthmi, and like its base, has transitive and intransitive uses. In the particular set of uses I am considering, the derivation is semantically transparent — that is, the components “stand” and “together” are both visible. One helpful way of describing the semantic relationship be- tween what are often called the “intransitive” and “transitive” uses of this verb is to call the intransitive use the “simple active”, and the transitive the “causative of the simple active”. In some instances the intransitive acts like a passive (or reflexive) of the transitive. 2. Transitive suni,sthmi The transitive use conveys standing something together, either in the sense of putting it together, that is, constructing it, or in the sense of holding it together. A straightforward example of this transitive use comes from 1 Macc 2,44, where a group of Jews “put together [i.e., organized] an army” (sunesth,santo du,namin). The theological use appears in 1 Clement 27.4, “by his majestic word he [God] put the universe to- gether” (evn lo,gw| th/j megalwsu,nhj auvtou/ sunesth,santo ta. panta). See further the Apology of Aristides, 1.5, where God is the , one “who put all things together” (to.n susthsa,menon ta. pa,nta) 36. Pauliniennes (Paris 1966). He simply asserts (215) that the verbs sune,cw and suni,sthmi signify the same thing, without explaining how he knows that. Likewise, F.F. BRUCE declares sugkei/mai in Sir 43,26 to be synony- mous with suni,sthmi, but does not explain why: “Colossian Problems, Part 2: The ‘Christ Hymn’ of Colossians 1:15-20”, BSac 14.562 (April- June 1984) 99-111, at 104. 36 Cf. John Damascene, Exp. of the Orth. Faith, 1.3.