[B-Greek] Re: Ro. 3:26

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Dec 7 17:33:01 EST 2003


At 3:38 PM -0300 12/7/03, John Colby wrote:
>I wrote:
>
>The end of Romans 3:26 reads:
>
> EIS TO EINAI AUTON DIKAION KAI DIKAIOUNTA TON EK PISTEWS IHSOU
>
> I take the first part as being an articular infinitive with a preposition
>(in order that He (might) be just...). How is the participle DIKAIOUNTA
>being used? Is it being used as an "object" of EINAI like DIKAION is? Is
>it substantive even with out an article? Is the phrase TON EK PISTEWS
>IHSOU the "direct object" of DIKAIOUNTA?
>
>Dr. Conrad responded:
>
>I would understand the construction as equivalent to hWSTE AUTOS DIKAIOS
>ESTIN KAI DIKAIWN TON EK PISTEWS IHSOU, i.e. the implicit subject is hO
>QEOS (carried forward from what proceeded), *AUTON is not the subject
>pronoun but intensive pronoun with DIKAION*; then DIKAIOUNTA is a second
>predicate dependent upon EINAI:  " ... so that he is himself righteous and
>makes righteous the one person who is righteous on the basis of the faith
>in/of Jesus (TON EK PISTEWS IHSOU [DIKAION]). That is to say: two things
>are being affirmed of God here: (a) he himself is righteous, and (b) he
>causes to be righteous the one (whose righteousness) depends upon faith
>in/of Jesus.
>
>I now better understand the last part of this verse (KAI DIKAIOUNTA TON EK
>PISTEWS IHSOU). My question now concerns the first part of this verse, EIS
>TO EINAI AUTON DIKAION. In his Grammar, D.B. Wallace lists this verse
>under the "Predicate Accusative". He says: "Second, there is the predicate
>accusative in which *one accusative is the subject of the infinitive* and
>the second makes an assertion about the first. Thus, it is similar to the
>nominative subject and predicate nominative construction, following the
>same principles for distinguishing them." He gives these examples, which
>are the same type as Ro. 3:26:
>
>Rom. 4:18 EIS TO GENSQAI AUTON PATERA POLLWN EQNWN
>                  With the result that he became [the] Father of many nations
>
>Jas. 1:18 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS APARCHN TINA TWN AUTOU KTISMATWN
>                That we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creation
>
>Also some other examples (not translated):
>
>Rom. 4:11 EIS TO EINAI AUTON PATERA PANTWN TWN PISTEUONTWN
>
>Rom. 15:16 EIS TO EINAI ME LEITOURGON CPISTOU IHSOU
>
>What is happening here? Is there different ways to translate this type of
>construction depending on the context, or is this construction disputed?

Yes, I would agree with Wallace's account of all these:

(a) in Rom 3:26 AUTON is the subject accusative of EINAI, DIKAION AND
DIKAIOUNTA are both predicate accusatives; "for HIM to be RIGHTEOUS and
MAKING-RIGHTEOUS ..." = "so that HE is RIGHTEOUS and MAKING RIGHTEOUS ..."
(b) in Rom 4:18 AUTON is the subject accusative of GENESQAI, PATERA is the
predicate accusative: "for HIM to become FATHER of many nations" = "so that
HE has become FATHER of many nations ...";
(c) in Jas 1:18 hHMAS is the subject accusative of EINAI and APARCHN TINA
is the predicate accusative: "for US to be A KIND OF FIRST-FRUITS of his
creations" = "so that WE are A SORT OF FIRST-FRUITS ...";
(d) in Rom 4;11 AUTON is the subject accusative of EINAI and PATERA is the
predicate accusative: "for HIM to be FATHER of all the ones believing" =
"so that HE is FATHER of all the ones who believe ..."
(e) in Rom 15:16 ME is the subject accusative of EINAI and LEITOURGON is
the predicate accusaative: "for ME to be SERVANT of Christ Jesus ..." = "so
that I am SERVANT of Christ Jesus ..."

OK?
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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