[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Rom 4:12



B. Coulie asks: " ...
In Rom. 4, 12, do the two articles 'tois', coordinated by
'alla kai' refer to the same group/persons (i.e. the Jews
who are circumcised and who have the faith that Abraham
had...), or to two different groups, according to most
grammars?"

This looks very much like an anacoluthon, a passage that
Paul started out with in one construction and that slightly
changed in mid-stream so that there's a sort of inconcinnity
of the two clauses. If I read it rightly, it SHOULD read,
either:

(a) "tois ouk ek peritomEs monon alla kai stoikhousin tois
ikhnesin tEs en akrobustiai pistews tou patros hEmwn Abraam"
[i.e., the second article with stoikhousin DOES seem
superfluous, in which case Paul meant to say, "to those not
only circumcised but also walking in the footsteps of our
father Abraham's uncircumcised faith")

or:

(b) ou tois ek peritomEs monon alla kai tois stoikhousin
tois ikhnesin tEs en akrobustiai pistews tou patros hEmwn
Abraam" [i.e., the first article is mistakenly placed ahead
of the negative particle; in this case we do have two
antithetical groups: "not only to the circumcised but also
to those walking in the footsteps of our father Abraham's
uncircumcised faith."]

The context, inasmuch as it is concerned with
faith-righteousness as a phenomenon pre-existing the
practice of circumcision and illustrated in Abraham's
example,  seems to me pretty clearly to favor the second
interpretation.

The problem, in my view, is that either (1) the initial TOIS
is mistakenly repeated before the participle STOIKHOYSIN, or
(2) the negative particle OYK is mistakenly placed inside
the article.

What do others think?

CARL W. CONRAD, C25001CC@WUVMD.BITNET OR C25001CC@WUVMD.WUSTL.EDU
Classics, Washington University, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO 63130
Phone: (314) 935-4018