Romans 4:2, a simple condition

Jim West jwest at Highland.Net
Fri Jun 2 10:03:31 EDT 2000


At 08:48 PM 6/1/00 -0700, you wrote:
>
>
>To all,
>
>Are there any grammatical reasons for not taking EI GAR ABRAAM EX ERGWN 
>EDIKAIWQN ECEI KAUCHMA, Rom. 4:2, as a simple condition?

that is in fact what it is.  ei in the protasis + ind. in the apodosis is a
first class or simple conditional sentence indicating the reality of the
thing described.  ie- "since abraham (according to your argument) was
justified by works he has cause to boast....".   Paul is here using their
own argument against them (as the argument unfolds in the rest of the
section).  It is the "judaizers" who suggest that Abraham was justified by
the works of the law.  Paul argues contrariwise.

Best,

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

" The righteous man looks after his own soul, and the bodies of others, 
whereas the hypocrite looks after his own body, and the souls of others"
Rabbi Lionel Blue

Jim West, ThD
jwest at highland.net
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest





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