[B-Greek] Rom. 8:3 hWi

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon Oct 10 12:18:51 EDT 2005


On Oct 10, 2005, at 11:01 AM, Mitch Larramore wrote:

> Roman 8:3 contains
>
> TO GAR ADUNATON TOU NOMOU, EN hWi HSQENEI DIA THS
> SARKOS...
>
> I'm wondering about hWi. Does it not have an
> antecedent because it is part of a prepositional
> phrase? And how does this prep. phrase function?

I understand EN hWi here as an abbreviated form of EN EKEINWi EN hWi  
(antecedent squeezed into relative pronoun): "wherein" or "whereby"  
or "inasmuch as"; I don't think it's really very different in  
function here from even a hOTI introducing a noun clause that  
clarifies/explains/gives a reason for the proposition it hangs on:  
So: "The weakness/inability of the Law, whereby (in that/insofar as/ 
the fact that) it was incapacitated by the working of the Flesh  
(let's not go into the question of SARX here!) ..."

One striking aspect of Hellenistic/Koine linkage of clauses, it seems  
to me, is the proliferation of conjunctive phrases, whether they be  
adverbs or prepositional phrases: hWS, KAQWS, KAQA (= KAT' hA),  
KAQAPER, hOTI, DIOTI, KTL.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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