[B-Greek] 1 Timothy 3:15 - Who is the "Pillar and Ground"
davidsugg at comcast.net
davidsugg at comcast.net
Wed Jan 7 08:52:46 EST 2004
Last night I came across an unusual interpretation 1 Timothy 3:15. The verse in question is:
1 Tim 3:14 TAUTA SOI GRAFW ELPIZWN ELQEIN PROS SE EN TACEI; 15 EAN DE
BRADUNW, hINA EIDHiS PWS DEI EN OIKWi QEOU ANASTREFESQAI, hHTIS ESTIN
EKKLHSIA QEOU ZWNTOS, STULOS KAI hEDRAIWMA THS ALHQEIAS.
The author claimed that "The pillar and ground of truth can not modify the word church. These words must modify the word God. The church of God the pillar and ground of truth. "
The author does not provide any grammatical basis for his claim, and after looking at the text, I do not think this is legitmate, based on the grammar.
In the archives, I saw where Carl Conrad addressed this passage last October, and concluded "Grammatically then hEDRAIWMA and STULOS are appositional to EKKLHSIA, and ALHQEIA in the genitive here functions as a sort of objective genitive to a verbal notion implicit in those nouns inasmuch as they imply an "upholding" sort of activity: Truth is the burden/charge that the household of God upholds." Zerwick also sees hEDRAIWMA and STULOS as appositional to EKKLHSIA, not to QEOU.
Does the grammar allow interpreting hEDRAIWMA and STULOS as modifying QEOU, rather than EKKLHSIA? If so, what factors would suggest the most likely noun?
Wouldn't hEDRAIWMA and STULOS need to be genitives, rather than nominative for them to modify QEOU?
I would appreciate any thoughts and help.
David Sugg
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