[B-Greek] AQEOI
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Sep 22 11:34:21 EDT 2003
At 7:34 AM -0700 9/22/03, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>Ephesians 2:12 that you were at that time without the
>Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and
>strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope
>and without God (AQEOI) in the world.
>
>I cut and pasted this from the often referenced NET
>Bible. I can't find one translation that translates
>this "without gods." Why is the plural here translated
>as a singular in most translations?
Because AQEOS is an adjective; it is plural only because it agrees with a
nominative plural subject of a plural verb HTE. Although the adjective
could in the right context mean "without gods" with reference to pagan
idols, in this context the writer surely is referring to the only QEOS in
whom he believes and whom he would expect those he addresses to seriously
consider. The fact that the adjective is plural doesn't mean that the
author considers "god" plural.
--
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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