[B-Greek] Translating Mark 1:8

Jim West jwest at highland.net
Wed Nov 2 11:38:28 EST 2005



Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> On Nov 2, 2005, at 8:16 AM, Dan Gleason wrote:
> 
> 
>>AUTOS DE BAPTISEI UMAS EN PNEUMATI AGIWi
>>but he will-immerse you in a-Holy Spirit.
>>
>>Is this translation accurate?
> 
> 
> No. Since PNEUMATI AGIWi is definiate.
> 
> Elizabeth Kline

Is it?
In their grammar Blass and Debrunner (sec 257(2)) suggest that when the 
article is absent it simply denotes "a divine spirit" so in fact here it 
is not definite and does not mean The Holy Spirit but instead is equally 
translatable as "he will baptize you by means of divine spirit" or some 
such.

Anarthrous phrases are dicey sometimes and definitive statements like 
"pneumati agiw is definite" may, or may not, be true.

Jim


-- 
D. Jim West

Biblical Studies Resources -  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
Biblical Theology Weblog -  http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com



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