Lk 18:13; TWi hAMARTWLWi

Harry W. Jones hjbluebird at aol.com
Tue Nov 27 20:51:19 EST 2001


Paul,

Your question is pretty much answered in GGBB by Wallace
on page 223 where Wallace classifies the use of the article
in this passage as a "Par Excellence" use. That is, as 
a member of a class. He does this because it fits well 
with the spirit of the man's pray.

I think most questions can be answered by referencing 
Wallace's book.

Harry Jones

> In a message dated 11/27/01 4:46:08 PM, cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu writes:
> 
> >At 3:23 PM -0600 11/27/01, Paul S Dixon wrote:
> >>Isn't it rather curious that translators omit the definite article here
> >>and render it as though the construction were anarthrous?  Does anybody
> >>know of a translation yielding "the sinner," rather than "a sinner"?
> >>
> >>But, more to the point. What is the justification for such?
> >
> >hO QEOS, hILASQHTI MOI TWi hAMARTWLWi
> >
> >Does this really signify anything more in the Greek than making hARTWLWi
> >an
> >attributive to MOI? I don't think the translators are doing anything more
> >than expressing the sense of the Greek in idiomatic English. While I can
> >conceive of hILASQHTI MOI hAMARTWLWi ONTI, I can't quite imagine hILASQHTI
> >MOI hAMARTWLWi.
> >-- 
> Several grammars with which I am familiar deal with the article as used in
> Luke 18:13 as the article used to denote a class. egs. AXIOS hO ERGATHS TOU
> MISQOU AUTOU. Lk. 10:7 "A worker is worthy of his wage." The article is used
> with a noun that denotes a group of which the prayer is a member. I know of
> no translation that translates either of these with the English article.
> 
> Carlton Winbery
> Louisiana College



More information about the B-Greek mailing list