Rom. 12:15 infinitives

Carl Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 6 15:48:28 EDT 1999


On 08/06/99, "Jim West <jwest at highland.net>" wrote:
> At 12:27 PM 8/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >
> >Jim,
> >
> >I'll let Carl say for himself what he found misleading, but I was confused
> >by your comment that "The participles contain the subject."  The rest made
> >sense to me, but what did that mean?  
> 
> The subject- the one doing the weeping or rejoicing.
> 
> Surely the subject of the imperatives
> >in 12:14 and of the infinitives in 12:15 is an implied "you" (hMEIS or
> >hUMAS),

I'm having some difficulty replying to anything while my home domain is 
down and I can read and respond to messages only at the web site. 
Nevertheless, as Jim rightly observes, there is nothing new in disagreement 
between us over Greek grammar, and Chris has spied it directly. I would 
indeed argue that the subject of the infinitives is implicit and is 
identical with the subject of the imperatives in 12:14 EULOGEITE and MH 
KATARASQE. Nor have I been able to figure out how the subjects of the 
genitive substantival participles TWN CAIRONTWN and TWN KLAIONTWN are 
imagined to be identical with their co-rejoicers and co-lamenters. I've 
always assumed that the audience (the letter is to be heard by the 
congregation to which it is read, I think) is being urged (through the 
imperatival infinitives) to share the joys and sufferings of other persons 
(referred to in the substantival participles TWN CAIRONTWN and TWN 
KLAIONTW) rather than to engage in solipsistic rejoicing and lamentation 
with themselves. Now, I might imagine a sort of reciprocity expressed in 
the imperatival infinitives if they were middle voice (CAIRESQAI, 
KLAIESQAI), but the grammar here seems to me to point rather to persons or 
groups who are rejoicing or lamenting as those WITH WHOM the congregation 
addressed in the letter are bidden to share. I don't think I'm saying 
anything different from what Chris is saying, and I simply don't understand 
what Jim is saying.



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