Romans 3:9 PROECOMEQA; OU PANTWS

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Sat, 22 Mar 1997 11:16:05 -0500

ROMA 3:9 (GNT) TI OUN; PROECOMEQA; OU PANTWS: PROHTIASAMEQA GAR IOUDAIOUS TE
KAI hELLHNAS PANTAS hUF hAMARTIAN EINAI,

I'm a little baffled by this. Zerwick and BAGD disagree on the meaning of
PROECOMEQA with the middle (or passive). Zerwick says it could mean stand
out, be superior, or excel, and translates this as "are we (as Jews)
superior?" He also suggests a second possibility: "are we (Jews) excelled,
i.e. in a less good position".

BAGD says that the middle could have the same meaning as the active - have
an advantage - which I assume would mean "do we Jews have an advantage?"

Or it could mean "hold something before oneself for protection", which I
assume would lead to a translation something like "do we have anything to
shield us (from God's wrath)?"

BAGD also mentions that the we could be construed to mean Paul himself in
both 9a and 9b, with the meaning "am I protecting myself" or "am I making
excuses?"

And BAGD says it could be taken as a passive with the meaning "are we
excelled?" or "are we in a worse position than they?"

So many interesting meanings. Is there anything that would help me choose
among them?

Jonathan

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