[B-Greek] 1Cor 12:28

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Oct 11 21:44:26 EDT 2003


At 7:23 PM -0600 10/11/03, Maurice Fuller wrote:
>In 1Cor. 12:28, the word PRWTON is used, along with DEUTERON and TRITON.
>In most commentaries, these words are understood as adjectives connected
>with the nouns APOSTOLOUS, PROFHTAS, 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, PRWTON, 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 EQETO, 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?

I doubt that the commentaries actually understand these words as adverbs
although the translation "first apostles, second prophets, ..." might make
it appear that they are adjectives. The order PRWTON DEUTERON TRITON needs
not be chronological but could be in terms of rank. At any rate, you're
right that the adverbs construe, not so simply with EQETO but PRWTON with
EQETO APOSTOLOUS, DEUTERON with EQETO PROFHTAS, etc. That is to say, the
predicate verb is implicitly repeated with each object and each of the
three predicates has its own adverbial qualifier.
-- 

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/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list