[B-Greek] GAMEW in Mt 22:23-30 par

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Apr 20 08:01:32 EDT 2004


At 6:44 AM -0400 4/20/04, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>Forwarded for: "Mike Singleton" <mike at singleton.ws>
>To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: naive question
>Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 23:10:30 -0700
>
>(I have reformulated the transliteration to conform to BG standard)
>
>Matthew 22:23-30 (or its scriptural counterparts: Mark 12:18-25 and
>Luke 20:27-36) point to a translation consistent amongst all major
>translations. My question is this; does the text support a view wherein;
> "ŠA quick look at the original Greek of this passage emphasizes that there
>is a difference between the state of marriage and "marry [ing] " or "giving
>in marriage," or wedding ceremonies, as referred to in Matthew 22:30. The
>word translated as "marry" is GAMOUSIN, the third-person form of GAMEW,
>which means "to enter the marriage state, to wed, to get married," and thus
>clearly refers to an action at a point in time, not a state of
>being-"he/she/it marries," as we'd say in English. The second term in the
>verse, "giving in marriage" is GAMIZONTAI an alternative way of saying the
>same thing (with the nuance that one is doing it for ones own benefit;
>called the Middle Voice in Greek). Some people may say that if you have
>been married, you have been "given in marriage," and this is true. So
>what's the difference between the "given in marriage" in this sense, and in
>the sense of "being married?" In I Corinthians 7:33 we see exactly the
>phrase that describes a married person: "But he that is married (GAMHSAS =
>"the married one") careth for the things that are of the world, how he may
>please his wife." If Jesus had wanted to deny the existence of eternal
>marriage, this is the word that would have been used in chronicling his
>confrontation with the SadduceesŠ" 2002 Marc Schindler (FAIR)
>
>Does this hold water? I am not sufficiently versed (yet!) to accurately
>respond to this.

In my opinion, this is rather specious reasoning--drawing conclusions that
go beyond the clear intention of the texts being cited; it is true enough
that GAMEW or GAMIZOMAI mean "enter into marriage." But the text of 1 Cor
7:33 is as follows: hO DE GAMHSAS MERIMNAi TA TOU KOSMOU PWS ARESTHi THi
GUNAIKI. In this text, I note that some versions convey hO GAMHSAS as if it
were stative (i.e. as if it were GEGAMHKWS, cf. 1 Cor 7:10 GEGAMHKOSIN); so
KJV "he that is married, "NET "the married man." But the substantival
participle hO GAMHSAS certainly might more accurately be conveyed as "one
who has entered into marriage" or "one who gets married." Nothing is
implied about the durability of the relationship entered into. I think that
the paragraph cited involves a semantic short-circuit, or some might prefer
to call it a logical fallacy.
-- 

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