[B-Greek] Romans 4:1

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Wed Jul 26 11:53:39 EDT 2006


Dear Stephen,

>Yes, since ABRAAM is indeclinable it "could" serve as subject for 
>hEURHKENAI, but then the sentence would make little or no sense.  (1) "What 
>then shall we say (that) Abraham finds our forefather according to flesh?" 
>or (2) "What then shall we say (that) Abraham, our forefather, finds 
>according to flesh?" We can certainly rule out (2) since hEURHKENAI is 
>transitive, but there is nothing to provide an object.  And (1) is just 
>nonsensical, since Abraham obviously is the forefather under issue.  
>Therefore, I think one can rule out ABRAAM as subject for hEURHKENAI.
>
>  
>
HH: Maybe I just don't understand you, but option 2 above is that taken 
by nearly every major translation of the Bible and makes perfect sense. 
The object of the transitive verb is "what," since this is a question. 
The object is TI.

TI OUN EROUMEN hEURHKENAI ABRAAM TON PROPATORA hHMWN KATA SARKA


However, the textual evidence favors to a consider extent that 
"according to the flesh" goes with "forefather":

"What then shall we say (that) Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?


Yours,
Harold Holmyard



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