[B-Greek] TI in Gal 2.6

Steven Lo Vullo themelios at charter.net
Tue Nov 30 02:51:51 EST 2004


On Nov 29, 2004, at 10:36 AM, Ronald Jones wrote:

Thanks for your response, Ronald. Yours was the last post I read, so I 
will start here and work my way back.

> Assume the translation is something along the order of "from those who
> supposed [themselves] to be something,"  or "supposed that they are
> something."  What we have then is an indirect statement after the 
> verbal
> portion of the participle DOKOUNTWN.  And that would take an 
> infinitive verb
> and an accusative subject (or predicate noun, adjective, pronoun with
> EINAI).
>
> I had looked ahead at the responses, and no one seems to have stated 
> the
> obvious here.

I don't think the above understanding of the construction in question 
is at all obvious. I think the points Carl made in his post should be 
carefully considered. His conclusion, in my opinion, is borne out by 
the facts and is in harmony with what I found last night while looking 
carefully at many examples of DOKEW with EINAI following. Allow me to 
make a few observations.

(1) I think assuming an English translation and basing an understanding 
of the Greek construction on that translation is a backwards 
methodology. On the contrary, I think the first order of business is a 
careful examination of the context to determine whether DOKEW is 
transitive or intransitive. This will help us to determine whether 
neuter substantives and adjectives related to EINAI are nominative or 
accusative.

(2) I don't agree that the participial forms of DOKEW in Gal 2 mean "to 
think." They are all intransitive and fall under section 2.a.beta, s.v. 
DOKEW in BDAG. The idea is "to seem" or "to be recognized as." This is 
clear from the absolute examples in Gal 2.2, 6b:

KAI ANEQEMHN AUTOIS TO EUAGGELION hO KHRUSSW EN TOIS EQNESIN, KAT' 
IDIAN DE TOIS DOKOUSIN...

Here it is clear that TOIS DOKOUSIN is not transitive and does not mean 
"those who think." There is no object clause indicating what it is they 
might think, so this makes no sense. The idea is, rather, "the 
acknowledged leaders" (NRSV), "those who seemed to be leaders" (NIV), 
"the recognized leaders" (NJB). However one translates, the idea is not 
what these men thought, but what others thought of them or recognized 
them to be.

This understanding of TOIS DOKOUSIN in v. 2 is confirmed in v. 6. 
Sandwiched between the clause containing TWN DOKOUNTWN EINAI TI and the 
one containing the absolute hOI DOKOUNTES is the interjection hOPOIOI 
POTE HSAN OUDEN MOI DIAFEREI; PROSWPON hO QEOS ANQRWPOU OU LAMBANEI. 
The declaration PROSWPON hO QEOS ANQRWPOU OU LAMBANEI indicates that 
what is in view here is appearance, what people **seem** or **appear** 
to be.

(3) One need look only a few verses forward from v. 6 to find an 
unambiguous example of an intransitive use of DOKEW followed by a 
complementary EINAI with a predicate nominative. In Gal 2.9 we have 
IAKWBOS KAI KHFAS KAI IWANNHS, hOI DOKOUNTES STULOI EINAI. STULOI is 
both clearly the predicate of EINAI and clearly nominative. Though the 
word order in v. 6--TWN DOKOUNTWN EINAI TI--is slightly different, I 
think the correspondence is clear. This indicates that TI in v. 6 is 
nominative.

(4) This construction--intransitive DOKEW with complementary EINAI and 
nominative substantive or adjective--seems to be pretty common in the 
biblical and related material. Here are some examples:

2 Mac 1.13 hH ... ANUPOSTATOS DOKOUSA EINAI DUNAMIS
"the force seeming to be irresistible"

3 Mac 5.6 hOI ... PASHS SKEPHS ERHMOI DOKOUNTES EINAI TOIS EQNESIN 
IOUDAIOI
"the Jews seeming to be destitute of all aid"

Prov 14.12 ESTIN hODOS hH DOKEI ORQH EINAI
"there is a way that seems to be right"

Prov 16.25 EISIN hODOI DOKOUSAI EINAI ORQAI
"there are ways seeming to be right"

Prov 17.28 DOXEI FRONIMOS EINAI
"he will seem to be wise"

Asher 4.5 DOKOUSIN AKAQARTOI EINAI
"seeming to be unclean"

Luke 22.24 TIS AUTWN DOKEI EINAI MEIZWN
"which of them should be considered to be greatest"

Acts 17.18 XENWN DAIMONIWN DOKEI KATAGGELEUS EINAI
"he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods"

1 Cor 11.16 EI ... TIS DOKEI FILONEIKOS
"if anyone seems to be contentious"

2 Clem 2.3 EPEI ERHMOS EDOKEI EINAI APO TOU QEOU hO LAOS hHMWN
"because our people seemed to be deserted by God"

2 Clem 20.4 EDOKOUMEN GAR EINAI DIKAIOI
"for we would seem to be righteous"

Poly 3.1 hOI DOKOUNTES AXIOPISTOI EINAI KAI hETERODIDASKALOUNTES
"those who seem to be trustworthy and [yet] teach divergent doctrine"

Shep 79.3 hAI ... TESSARES hAI EIS TAS GWNIAS hESTHKUIAI ENDOXOTERAI 
MOI EDOKOUN EINAI
"the four who stood at the corners seemed to me to be more glorious"

Shep 81.1 hAI DOKOUSAI DUNATAI EINAI
"those who seemed to be strong"

Shep 84.6 KAGW AMELHS DOXW EINAI PARA TWi DESPOTHi
"and I will seem to be careless in my master's sight"

Shep 86.5 EDOKOUSAN ... MOI hAI GUNAIKES AUTAI AGRIAI EINAI
"these women seemed to me to be savage"

Shep 86.7 MONOLIQOS ... MOI EDOKEI EINAI
"it seemed to me to be made out of one stone"

Shep 88.4 hH DOKOUSA PRWTH AUTWN
"the one seeming to be their leader"

(5) When DOKEW is transitive and takes an object clause of indirect 
discourse with EINAI, the object clause will exhibit one of two 
constructions:

(a) If the subject of the object clause is the same as the subject of 
DOKEW, there will be no expressed subject in the object clause and the 
predicate substantive or adjective of EINAI will be nominative. Here 
are some examples:

1 Cor 3.18 EI TIS DOKEI SOFOS EINAI
"if anyone thinks he is wise"

1 Cor 14.37 EI TIS DOKEI PROFHTHS EINAI H PNEUMATIKOS
"if anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual"

Gal 6.3 EI ... DOKEI TIS EINAI TI MHDEN WN
"if anyone thinks he is something though he is nothing"

James 1.26 EI TIS DOKEI QRHSKOS EINAI
"if anyone thinks he is religious"

(b) If the subject of the object clause is different from the subject 
of DOKEW, both the subject and the object of EINAI will be accusative.

Gen 38.15 IOUDAS EDOXEN AUTHN PORNHN EINAI
"Judah thought she was a prostitute"

2 Cor 11.16 MH TIS ME DOXHi AFRONA EINAI
"do not let anyone think I am a fool"

Barn 8.1 TINA ... DOKEITE TUPON EINAI
"what type do you think it is?"

Shep 8.1 THN PREBUTERAN ... TINA DOKEIS EINAI
"the elderly woman ... who do you think she is?"

I don't claim that there are no exceptions to the above points. But I 
think they may be helpful in identifying whether neuter substantives or 
adjectives in the various constructions are nominative or accusative.
============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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