[B-Greek] DIKAIOUMENOI in Romans 3:24
Steven Lo Vullo
slovullo at mac.com
Wed Oct 29 00:37:26 EST 2003
On Oct 28, 2003, at 6:49 PM, David & Sharon Mills wrote:
> PANTES GAR hHMARTON . DIKAIOUMENOI DWREAN..
>
>
>
> The grammatical connection between PANTES and the participle
> DIKAIOUMENOI
> seems obvious, but I have a little trouble understanding the logic of
> this
> construction here. It looks to me to be the perfect place for a KAI .
> KAI .
> contruction: "For not only have all sinned ., but also all are
> justified
> freely .. Am I understanding Paul correctly, or am I missing
> something?
Hi David:
KAI ... KAI normally forms a "both ... and" construction. It would
actually be quite awkward to use KAI to conjoin a finite verb with a
participle. In this case PANTES is the subject of hHMARTON and
hUSTEROUNTAI, finite verbs conjoined by KAI. DIKAIOUMENOI is a
circumstantial or adverbial modifier of either hHMARTON, hUSTEROUNTAI,
or both. I personally opt for both. Since it describes action related
to the subject of the verb(s) it modifies (PANTES), it is in
grammatical agreement with the gender, number, and case of PANTES and
the number of the verbs with which it is associated.
As for the precise sense of the participle in relation to the governing
verbs, this is a more difficult question. Taking the overall context
into consideration, the point seems to be that "all" have equally
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and thus "all" are
necessarily justified in the same manner, the only possible manner
given the circumstances--DWREAN, etc. Both the Jews and the Gentiles
Paul is addressing share a common problem that required a common
solution. This seems to be part of a larger strategy on Paul's part to
bring unity to Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church, a problem that
comes to the fore later in the letter.
============
Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI
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