[B-Greek] 1 Timothy 3:15 - Who is the "Pillar and Ground"

mrt mrt at hisurfer.net
Wed Jan 7 11:25:07 EST 2004


David Sugg wrote:
>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.

Hi David,
It seems that the author has made an a priori assumption on the passage ie.
that the EKKLHSIA simply CANNOT be the pillar and support of truth.  But
that assertion is most highly questionable and I do feel inclined to regard
the appositional nominatives with "church" since that is the expected,
natural grammitical construct.
Nominatives in Apposition are very common and are usually in the same case.
For a discussion of this see GGBB pg.48 "Nominative in Simple Apposition."

For exceptions to this rule, and of course exceptions are not the rule! :-)
see GGBB pg. 62 "Nominative in Apposition to Oblique Cases"  And B-D-F
sec.136 and 137.

Michael Tarver
Oregon, USA
<'\\><  laus Deo




More information about the B-Greek mailing list