participles and genitives in Rom 2:15b

richard smith rbsads at aol.com
Sun Jun 16 23:03:18 EDT 2002


Rom 2:15b SUMMARTUROUSHS AUTWN THS SUNEIDHSEWS KAI METAXU ALLHLWN TWN
LOGISMWN KATHGOROUNTWN H KAI APOLOGOUMENWN

I am having trouble relating the parts of this sentence to each other.  I
am taking the verse to be a genitive absolute construction, with THS
SUNEIDHSEWS functioning as the subject of the absolute clause.

“With their conscience adding testimony”

My attempts at reading this, assuming I am close with the above rendering,
seem to stall at the phrase METAXU ALLHLWN. Gingrich indicates that it
means “among one another.” Nevertheless, the NIV and NRSV do not seem to
render the sense of the preposition in their respective translations.
Might the preposition mean among different persons, among different
thoughts?

Several semantic questions come to mind.  One is how to understand AUTWN
THS SUNEIDHSEWS?  Is this one corporate conscience of many, or should the
singular genitive be understood as plural individual consciences? Perhaps
the singular noun with a plural possessive pronoun means that each has an
individual conscience?

Is this a personal interplay between each individual conscience’s varying
accusation and defense of a specific thought, of a specific action, or of
different thoughts, of different actions – some defended and some accused?
Or is this an exchange among various individuals to arrive at a corporate
conscience?

Are the thoughts actually the justification used by God in the judging of
the rightness of an act? In other words, is the sincerity of motive,
ANOMWS, the primary defense before THS DIKAIOKRISAS TOU QEOU?
 
And, please understand, I am not asking for a theological discussion, only
for help with the sense of the relation and significance of the components
of the verse. What is Paul saying here?  And, more, how are these
components being used to say it?

Perhaps, if someone can help with an over literal translation, I will
better understand the relation between the components of the verse, and
will then be better able to make sense of its significance.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,


Richard Smith
Chattanooga, TN
 





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