[B-Greek] Phil 3:4 & 9 Article missing accentuates noun quality?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Sat Oct 22 07:27:47 EDT 2005


On Oct 21, 2005, at 4:20 PM, David Bielby wrote:

> Looking at Philippians 3:4 & 9 I have a grammar question.
>
> Philippians 3:4  KAIPER EGW ECWN PEPOIQHSIN KAI EN SARKI.  EI TIS  
> DOKEI
> ALLOS PEPOIQENAI EN SARKI, EGW MALLON.
>
> Philippians 3:9  KAI hEUREQW EN AUTW, MH ECWN EMHN DIKAIOSUNHN THN  
> EK NOMOU
> ALLA THN DIA PISTEWS CRISTOU,  THN EK QEOU DIKAIOSUNHN EPI THi PISTEI.
>
> The point was made that the lack of an article in the Greek Text in  
> Phil 3:9
> for DIKAIOSUNHN focuses the meaning on the quality of the noun  
> driving the
> meaning towards ‘not a righteousness of my own’ instead of ‘not a
> righteousness from God’ via the law.

I guess you mean that some commentator suggested this interpretation:  
you don't
attribute this "point" to any source.

> This intensification of the quality of the noun is driven by the  
> lack of
> article(?)  That’s my first question.

I don't understand this. THN EK NOMOU qualifies EMHN DIKAIOSUNHN in an
attributive construction; so I don't see that the phrase as a whole  
is any less
definite. While THN EK NOMOU does seem emphatic to me in its  
characterization
of DIKAIOSUNHN, the phrasing would not be essentially different if  
the word-
order were MH ECWN THN EMHN EK NOMOU DIKAIOSUNHN.

> If so, then does that fit in vs 4 as well for SARKI?  Assuming it  
> does…then
> should vs 4 be translated fleshly nature or something like that?

I wouldn't assume that it does. SARX is found quite frequently in the  
GNT
as object of a preposition without an article: KATA SARKA. For EN SARKI
cf. Rom 2:28, 8:8; 2 Cor 10:3, Gal 6:2, Eph 2:11 (2x), Phil 1:22,  
3:3; Col 2:1,
1 Tim 3:16, Philem 16, etc., etc.

> Or am I making way too much of the lack of an article here?

I rather think so.


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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