[B-Greek] Romans 12:1
EgwEimi at aol.com
EgwEimi at aol.com
Fri Jul 16 19:07:07 EDT 2004
Agreement in "gender, number, and case" is not used
in every circumstance. Specifically, "number" can
be used distributively, as Harold has indicated.
A simple example of this can be found when looking
up the more common expression "their heart," an
example of which is found in 2C 3:15 --
EPI THN KARDIAN AUTWN.
Look up "your heart," and you'll find quite a few
of those seemingly mismatched, too. For example:
...DIALOGIZESQE (pl.) ... ECETE (pl.) ...
NOEITE (pl.) ... SUNIETE (pl.) ... ECETE (pl.) ...
THN KARDIAN (sing.) hUMWN (pl.).
The audience is multiple, and all of the addresses are
in the plural, but Jesus refers to "your heart" being
hardened, when in English, we would say "your hearts."
"They" have more than one heart. In English, we
would say "their _hearts_" instead. You'll also find
examples (like Eph 4:17) of TOU NOOS AUTWN
"their (plural) mind (singular)".
They had the same attitude, so "heart" or "mind"
could be used in the singular, even though the author
meant that they had that attitude individually.
Similarly, the members of the group individually
present themselves as living sacrifices; they're all
doing the same kind of thing, so it's not improper to
say "sacrifice." It is not a single event.
Here's another use of "body" in the singular, where
the plural is intended:
1Q 5:23 has "hUMWN TO PNEUMA KAI H
YUCH KAI TO SWMA."
your (pl.) spirit and soul and body. It's not a
collective spirit, or soul, or body here; the passage
means "spirits, souls, bodies."
You'll even find "our body" in Phil 3:21, where it
means "bodies."
Frank
Frank Daniels
EgwEimi at aol.com
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