Wednesday, October 2, 2024

The Difference between a "Gate" and a "Door" in Antiquity

  

In English, the main difference between a gate and a door would seem to be that a gate allows and prevents access to the perimeter of a space (e.g., a gate allows access through a fence or some other barrier) or provides security for an interior space (e.g., a baby-gate prevents access to stairs for young children), whereas a door allows and prevents access to the interior of a building or to a room. In Koine Greek, there is a significant semantic overlap between θυρα and πυλη, as is evidenced by the fact that both nouns are regularly used to translate שׁער in the LXX. For example, in Ezek 44:12 LXX the two occurrences of the noun שׁער, which have the same referent, are translated with πυλη in the first instance and θυρα in the second . . . (David J. Downs, “Jesus the Good: Gate Christology in the Gospel of John and in Second-Century Christianity,” in John Among the New Testament Writers: Early High Christology, ed. Christopher M. Blumhofer, Diane G. Chen, and Joel B. Green [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2024], 274 n. 8)

 

 

 

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