Jude 18 clause articulation, etc.

boyd at huxcomm.net boyd at huxcomm.net
Mon Dec 3 00:37:00 EST 2001


Clay wrote:
<In Jude 18 we have some reported speech from the Apostles:

EP' ESCATOU [TOU] XRONOU ESONTAI
EMPAIKTAI KATA TAS hEAUTWN EMIQUMIAS
POREUOMENOI TWN ASEBEIWN.

>Looking once again at Chapter 2 of *Levinsohn where he 
>discusses Points
>of Departure, I ran into some difficulty making up my mind about 
>the clause articulation in this reported speech.

>It seems like EP' ESCATOU [TOU] XRONOU ESONTAI 
>EMPAIKTAI could be understood
>as PRESENTATIONAL articulation, see Levinsohn's discussion of 
>Tit. 1:10 (pp.24-25).

I think that the clause should be understood as having 
presentational articulation (see p. 103, where he discusses the 
very similar hWS KAI EN hUMIN ESONTAI YEUDODIASKALOI as 
presentational).  Levinsohn does say, "Sentences with 
presentational articulation are sometimes used also in non-
narrative to introduce new particpants or objects to an ongoing 
argument . . ." (p. 134).  But in the verse at hand we don't have the 
original context of the apostles' words, so this seems to be like 
Paul's quoting Epimenides in Titus 1:12, about which Levinsohn 
comments that "The context of this quotation would be needed to 
know why Epimenides needed to set a point of departure" (p. 25 n. 
31).  In other words, the clause could have presentational 
articulation and yet still not actually introduce "new participants" 
because it's a quote pulled out of its original context.

>At this point I am just trying to apply the clause (sentence?)
>articulation categories to the quote itself and having a difficult time 
>making up my mind about it.

Thanks for articulating your musings about articulation.  I always 
look forward to reading your posts, and I think that discussing a 
book is one of the best ways to understand it.

Thanks for the discussion,
Jonathan Boyd
Huxley, IA

*Stephen Levinsohn, _Discourse Features of New Testament 
Greek_, 2d ed., (Dallas: SIL International, 2000).



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