Col. 2:23 "will worship"; Epiphanius "superfluous will worship" (Migne) problem

[NaphtaliPress]

I'm going through my text one of Alexander Henderson's Sermons before Parliament (1643), and have a puzzle. It may simply be a botched setting of the type. I don't really know Greek so any help figuring this out or deciphering what Henderson is doing would be appreciated.
The Greek Henderson cites out of Epiphanius is here:

Epiphanius per Migne's PG is here:
Patrologiae Graecae vol. 41: Epiphanius

And Col. 2:23 here:
Colossians 2:23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

I cannot match Henderson to either the NT in Col. or in Epiphanius.

 

[rbcbob]

I found very little with my limited library.

Thayer’s Lexicon:

1566

εθελοθρησκεια voluntary, arbitrary worship, (Vulgate superstitio) (A. V. will-worship), i. e. worship which one devises and prescribes for himself, contrary to the contents and nature of the faith which ought to be directed to Christ; said of the misdirected zeal and practices of ascetics: Col. 2:23; Suidas evqeloqrhskei. ivdi,w| qelh,mati sebei to, dokou/n. Cf. evqelo,douloj, evqelodoulei,a, evqelopro,xenoj, one who acts the part of a proxenus without having been appointed to the office, etc. The explanation of others: simulated, counterfeit religion (cf. in Greek lexicons, evqelofilosofoj, evqelokwfoj, etc.), does not square so well with the context. (The word is found besides in Mansi, Collect. Concil. vol. iv., p. 1380, and in Theodoret, vol. iv., epistle clxi., p. (1460 b., Migne edition) 1831, Halle edition; (Eusebius, h. e. 6, 12, 1; Jerome, epistle 121, vol. 1,1031, Migne edition). Epiphanius haer. 1, 16 (i., p. 318, 3rd edition, Dindorf) attributes εθελοθρησκεια to the Pharisees.)*

Kittle (TDNT) has little more Volume III p. 155-159

Lightfoot, commenting on the phrase εν εθελοθρησκεια in Col 2:23 says:

‘In volunteered, self-imposed, officious, supererogatory service.’ One or both of these two ideas, (1) ‘excessive readiness, officious zeal, (2) affectation, unreality are involved in this and similar compounds … Epiphanius, when writing of the Pharisees, not content with the word supplied by St Paul, coins a double compound εθελοπερισσοθρησκεια, Haer.i.16 (p.34)

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Excellent; thanks very much Bob. Lightfoot is what I needed. I had the wrong place in Epiphanius.

 

[DTK]

Chris,

The word ἐθελοθρησκία (or ἐθελοθρῃσκεία) occurs twice in Migne PG 41, the English and Greek of both citations I am listing for you below. In his Panarion, Epiphanius is refuting some 80 different sects. The marks, « », indicate Scripture quotations in the Greek text of Migne. I think the second citation (just below) is probably the one Henderson had in mind.

1) Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320-403):
Scholion 24. And he said, “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, asking three loaves?” And the, “Ask, and it shall be given. If a son shall ask a fish of any of you that is a father, will he for a fish give him a serpent, or a scorpion for an egg?” If ye then, being evil, know of good gifts, how much more the Father?”
(a) Elenchus 24. The willfulness (ἐθελοθρῃσκεία) of the swindler’s way of life is exposed by this text. His way of life is not for continence’s sake, or for a good reward and the hope of a contest, but for impiety and the badness of a bad opinion. (b) For he teaches that it is wrong to eat meat, and claims that those who eat flesh are liable to the judgment, as they would be for eating souls. Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46) 42. Against Marcionites, 11, &E 24 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 298.
Greek text: Σχόλιον κδ. Καὶ εἶπεν «τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἕξει φίλον, καὶ πορεύσεται πρὸς αὐτὸν μεσονυκτίου, αἰτῶν τρεῖς ἄρτους;» καὶ λοιπόν «αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται. τίνα γὰρ ἐξ ὑμῶν τὸν πατέρα υἱὸς αἰτήσει ἰχθὺν καὶ ἀντὶ ἰχθύος ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ ἢ ἀντὶ ᾠοῦ σκορπίον; εἰ οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθά, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ πατήρ;»
Ἔλεγχος κδ. Ἐλήλεγκται δὲ τοῦ ἀπατηλοῦ ἡ ἐθελοθρῃσκεία τῆς πολιτείας ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ ῥητοῦ. οὐ γὰρ παρʼ αὐτῷ διʼ ἐγκράτειαν ἡ πολιτεία οὐδὲ διὰ μισθὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἐλπίδα ἀγῶνος, ἀλλὰ διὰ ἀσέβειαν καὶ κακοτροπίαν κακῆς ὑπονοίας. διδάσκει γὰρ οὗτος ἐμψύχων μὴ μεταλαμβάνειν, φάσκων ἐνόχους εἶναι τῇ κρίσει τοὺς τῶν κρεῶν μεταλήπτορας, ὡς ἂν ψυχὰς ἐσθίοντας. Adversus Haereses, Liber I, Tom. III, XLII, §1, PG 41:740C.

2) Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320-403): They [i.e., the Apostolics] boast of having no possessions, if you please, but they divide and harm God’s holy church for no good reason, by depriving themselves of God’s lovingkindness through their willful sort of worship (ἐθελοθρῃσκεύειν). Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and III (Sects 47-80, De Fide), 61. Against Apostolics, 1,3 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 115.
Greek text: Σεμνύνονται δὲ δῆθεν ἀκτημοσύνην• σχίζουσι δὲ μάτην οὗτοι καὶ βλάπτουσι τὴν ἁγίαν θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν, διὰ τοῦ ἐθελοθρῃσκεύειν ἐκπεσόντες τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας. Adversus Haereses, Liber II, Tom. I, LXI, §1, PG 42:1040C.

Friberg Lexicon: ἐθελοθρησκία, ας, ἡ (also ἐθελοθρησκεία) self-made religion, self-imposed worship, self-willed observance (CO 2.23)
Liddel, Scott & Jones Lexicon: ἐθελοθρησκεία, ἐθελο-θρησκεία, ἡ, will-worship, N.T.
See also G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 406, 2nd column.

Colossians 2:23, ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ BYZ
Colossians 2:23, ἐθελοθρησκίᾳ GNT

On the same page, a little later in the same column of Lampe's Lexicon is the other word (i.e., the one to which Lightfoot referred), ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν.

I find Lightfoot’s comment on Epiphanius somewhat unhelpful because there is no proof that Epiphanius even had the other word, above (ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ), in mind in that part of his work, let alone the Apostle Paul’s reference to it in Colossians 2:23, for him to be discontent with it. Epiphanius seems to have had this special word (ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν) in mind in his treatment of Sect 16, Against Pharisees, in 1, 6-7 of the Panarion.

So then, Epiphanius does use this word (ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ) in two places of Vol. 41 of Migne which I've cited for you above. It seems to me that Lightfoot is reading his own thoughts back into Epiphanius. Epiphanius' Panarion is a long work and extends into Vol. 42 of Migne, and I think the word ἐθελοθρῃσκεία occurs at least once there, i.e., in the part of the Panarion that extends into Vol. 42 of Migne.

The other word which Epiphanius uses, (ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν) and to which Lightfoot refers, is translated by Williams as follows, “extra voluntary ritual.” Below is both the English translation and Greek text of it.

Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320-403): They [i.e., the Pharisees] had the style of dress I spoke of before the Scribes, with the shawl, the other fashions, and women’s cloaks, and they anticipated the Scribes in their wide boots, and the wide tongues on their sandals. But they were called “Pharisees” because they were separated from the others by the extra voluntary ritual (ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν) they believed in; “pharesh” is Hebrew for separation. Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46) 16. Against Pharisees, 1,6-7 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 39.
Greek text: Τῷ δὲ προειρημένῳ σχήματι τῶν Γραμματέων προήρχοντο, διά τοι τῆς ἀμπεχόνης καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων σχημάτων καὶ γυναικικῶν ἱματίων ἐν πλατείαις ταῖς κρηπῖσιν καὶ γλώτταις τῶν ὑποδημάτων προϊόντες. ἐλέγοντο δὲ Φαρισαῖοι διὰ τὸ ἀφωρισμένους εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων διὰ τὴν ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν τὴν παρ' αὐτοῖς νενομισμένην· Φάρες γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραΐδα ἑρμηνεύεται ἀφορισμός. Adversus Haereses, Liber I, Tom. I, XVI, §1,6-7, PG 41:249Α.

I suppose the connection between Henderson and the Apostle Paul is the word (ἐθελοθρῃσκεία) that the latter uses in Colossians 2:23, and which Epiphanius does make use of in his Panarion. So, I think the reference in Migne that you want is Adversus Haereses, Liber II, Tom. I, LXI, §1, PG 42:1040C. Since I have Migne, and both volumes of Williams translation of Epiphanius' Panarion, I thought you might find this beneficial. Hope this helps; I would hate for you to mislocate Henderson's reference.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Thanks very much David. I guess I adduced Colossians as that was the only way I was going to find the special word I thought, and the special coined word is actually the text Henderson uses, but with a few mistaken letters I think (chalk it up to the typesetter I suspect). So I think the section on the Pharisees is what I need. You convinced me not to adduce Lightfoot! I may use the Brill with your permission; is the below an exact quotation?

They [i.e., the Pharisees] had the style of dress I spoke of before the Scribes, with the shawl, the other fashions, and women’s cloaks, and they anticipated the Scribes in their wide boots, and the wide tongues on their sandals. But they were called “Pharisees” because they were separated from the others by the extra voluntary ritual (ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν) they believed in; “pharesh” is Hebrew for separation.
​

Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46) 16. Against Pharisees, 1,6-7 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 39.

 

[DTK]

Chris,

you are welcome to use the Brill citation. Using Migne, I supplied the Greek word ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν into the text of Williams translation. I also have a document in which I have embedded the lexicon entries from Lampe for both words. I'll email you the document, and you can tell me if the embedding of Lampe's entries in it appears.

PS. Yes, the citation from Brill is exact except for the Greek word, ἐθελοπερισσοθρῃσκείαν, which I supplied from Migne and inserted into the text of Williams' translation. Since Henderson uses it, it's probably good to have the Greek word there, and I've given it to you in unicode, so it ought to work in any mss. that you might be preparing.

Oops, almost forgot, I also supplied the note "[i.e., the Pharisees]" into the Williams' translation as well.

Here's how the citation appears precisely in the Brill volume without my supplements...

Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320-403): 1,6 They had the style of dress I spoke of before the Scribes, with the shawl, the other fashions, and women’s cloaks, and they anticipated the Scribes in their wide boots, and the wide tongues on their sandals. (7) But they were called “Pharisees” because they were separated from the others by the extra voluntary ritual they believed in; “pharesh” is Hebrew for separation. Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46) 16. Against Pharisees, 1,6-7 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 39.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Very good; thanks very much David.