[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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