[B-Greek] 1Cor 12:28

Maurice Fuller fullermt at shaw.ca
Sat Oct 11 21:23:06 EDT 2003


In 1Cor. 12:28, the word proton is used, along with deuteron and triton. In most commentaries, these words are understood as adjectives connected with the nouns apostolous, prophetas, and didaskalous. This would make these adjectives denote rank (first, second and third). That is, apostles are first or highest in rank, prophets are second and teachers are third. The problem is, proton, deuteron & triton are singular, whereas the three nouns are plural so do not agree in number, as Greek adjectives must do. The masculine singular, accusative forms of these adjectives, however, serve as adverbs. This would mean that the three adverbs are connected with the verb etheto, requiring the meaning, " God first (in time) set apostles, second (in time) prophets, third (in time) teachers in the Church" Have I missed something here, or have others been consistantly missing it?

Maurice L. Fuller





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