[B-Greek] Genitive in Romans 6:6c
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Thu Jul 13 04:40:35 EDT 2006
[Yancy:] > My problem with taking "body of sin" as the meaning unit is precisely
> with its referent. Apparently the majority of interpreters take it as
> ="sinful body/body prone to sin" while disputing over the exact
> meaning of KATARGHQHi (thanks for the correction on spelling, BTW)
> whether "strong" or "weak" meaning i.e. "destroyed" vs "render
> ineffective or powerless."
[IL:]
This verb is fairly common and has various senses. Basically, I would translate it as "annul, put out of use, make
irrelevant, retire".
> The phrase would not, on this reading,
> however, simply be the human body, but as you say, a rough equivalent
> of hO PALAIOS ANQRWPOS. I think that is my problem, because it seems
> that the most natural sense of SWMA is simply the human body.
I agree that the referent in this verse is exactly the same as hO PALAIOS ANQRWPOS, that is, the former life (of sin).
Why do you say that the "most natural sense" of SWMA is the human body? Do you mean in this context, or are you thinking
of the most common sense of the word in other contexts?
In this context, it cannot simply mean the human body.
L&N give the following senses, but even this is not a complete list, since TEV at times translates it by "self":
a body: swma#8.1
b physical being: swma#9.8
c church: swma#11.34
d slave: swma#87.78
e reality: swma#58.66
In this verse SWMA is qualified by THS hAMARTIAS, and it is quite parallel to SWMA TOU QANATOU in Rom 7:24. In the
context that Paul is speaking into, the word SWMA was as a metonymy for the cravings and desires of a human being. In
modern Western society, we rarely make that connection, because for us the mind is paramount. So, I would prefer to
render SWMA by "life" in these kinds of contexts. Therefore, SWMA THS hAMARTIAS describes a "life of sin" or "life
characterised by sinning" and SWMA TOU QANATOU "life of death" or "life that leads to death". And here "death" is not
limited to physical death.
In Rom 12:1, it is not our "physical bodies" that we are supposed to offer to God, but our whole lives.
NCV translates: "I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him." The literal versions obscure the meaning,
when they keep the word "body" in English.
>
> After thinking about it a bit more I see that Paul uses KATARGEW
> elsewhere with similar meaning in conjunction with the ablatival
> genitive.
Where does he do that?
> Perhaps the phrase with KATARGEW and APO and the ABLATIVAL
> genitive in Rom 7:3, where "if the husband dies, [the wife] is
> released from the law about the husband" is a good parallel to this
> one. EAN DE APOQANHi hO ANHR, KATARGHTAI APO TOU NOMOU TOU ANDROS.
It is not parallel, because here the APO is crucial, and there is no APO in Rom 6:6. KATARGEW with APO means to be
released from (the authority of) what the noun in the preposition refers to. The authority of the noun referent is
annulled, no longer in effect.
Iver Larsen
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