[B-Greek] Acts 16:34 & sentence diagramming.

Iver Larsen ialarsen at multitechweb.com
Mon Dec 13 00:43:50 EST 2004


> On Dec 12, 2004, at 7:06 PM, Remington186 at aol.com wrote:
>
> > HGALLIASATO PANOIKEI PEPISTEUKWS TWi QEWi
> > I'm thinking that PANOIKEI PEPISTEUKWS TWi QEWi is an adverbal clause,
> > with a
> > "subject," household, a "verbal," having committed, and the direct
> > object,
> > God. That "He," the subject of the sentence, is a part of "the
> > household" is,
> > unquestionable.
> >
> > As a verbal clause would it inevitably modify rejoiced -- or is there
> > something in Greek that has it simply modifying HGALLIASATO, including
> > both 'he' and
> > 'rejoiced,' both subject and predicate?
>
> Hi Remington:
>
> Yes, the participial phrase PEPISTEUKWS TWi QEWi is adverbial,
> subordinate to and modifying HGALLIASATO, probably semantically
> indicating the cause of the rejoicing. And TWi QEWi does indeed
> complement PEPISTEUKWS.
>
> Participles, since they are not finite, do not have subjects. PANOIKEI
> is an adverb. The question here is whether PANOIKEI modifies the main
> verb HGALLIASATO or the participle PEPISTEUKWS. Translators and
> commentators are divided on this. Some have concluded that it modifies
> both. The NET note says this:
>
> "The phrase 'together with his entire household' is placed at the end
> of the English sentence so that it refers to both the rejoicing and the
> belief. A formal equivalence translation would have 'and he rejoiced
> greatly with his entire household that he had come to believe in God,'
> but the reference to the entire household being baptized in v. 33
> presumes that all in the household believed."
>
> It seems to me that there may be a theological bias at work here,
> though it is my theological bias as well. Personally, I have trouble
> with the idea that an adverb may modify two words. In diagramming this
> sentence I would give both possibilities and append a note explaining
> my preference and why it is my preference.
>

Steven, what is your preference?
As I looked at other examples of adverbs with perfect participles in the
GNT, it seems that the pattern is for the adverb to precede the participle.
It is then most likely that the adverb PANOIKEI modifies the following
participle PEPISTEUKWS - he had come to believe with his whole household.

Since the basis for the rejoicing is the believing it follows that
semantically it is also PANOIKEI that he rejoices. So, when we talk about
grammar, I would say that PANOIKEI modifies the participle, but in
translation one can formulate the text in such a way that the PANOIKEI
applies to both verbal ideas. I would therefore disagree with the REB
rendering you quoted, because
it implies that only the jailor had come to faith in God.

REB - He brought them up into his house, set out a meal, and rejoiced
with his whole household in his new-found faith in God. (Here PANOIKEI
is construed with HGALLIASATO.)

Iver Larsen




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