[B-Greek] Romans 12:1

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Jul 16 17:04:53 EDT 2004


Dear David,

>Thanks for the response.  I totally agree with what you're saying, but your
>last question was exactly what the speaker was trying to say.  According to
>him, what we do during the week (studying, prayers, works, etc.) is
>accumulated and brought as a single sacrifice along with the other church
>members when they assemble.  This he "proved" through the Greek construction
>used, which should "always agree in number, gender, and case unless a there
>is a definite difference."  Do you know of any other verses with similar
>construction (not necessarily with SWMATA) which a clear individual identity
>can be established from the context?

HH: Why don't you ask him what grammar book it's in and where. I have 
never heard the interpretation. i just checked John Stott's 
commentary, and he gave a view like the one I gave you. In English 
you can say it either way, singular or plural, and I suppose the same 
thing is true in Greek. In Rom 12:1 there is no mention of a worship 
service or a time of the week. This is trying to squeeze too much out 
of the grammar. I can't think of a clear verse offhand, but Num 15:3 
may have something of the distributive flavor, as I believe the 
individual's offering is an aroma to the Lord. You'd have to compare 
the OG and Hebrew. Numbers 18:24 is somewhat the idea, inasmuch as 
the Israelites presented their first fruits individually as an 
offering to he Lord.

Num. 15:3 and you present to the LORD offerings made by fire, from 
the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD - whether 
burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings 
or festival offerings -

Num. 18:24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the 
tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That 
is why I said concerning them:  'They will have no inheritance among 
the Israelites.'"

						Yours,
						Harold Holmyard



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