[B-Greek] love: or love,

Harold Holmyard hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Wed Apr 11 10:48:49 EDT 2007


Scott Wells wrote:
> HH said: "The word "fruit" in its Hebrew, Greek, and English forms is a
> collective singular"
>
> This certainly seems to be the common usage, especially of the Hebrew PRiY
> (I'm not aware of a plural occurrence in the OT).  But does the fact that
> there are plural forms of KARPOS in the NT used in the metaphorical sense
> (e.g. Mt 7:16) lend any credibility to understanding the characteristics
> following KARPOS in Gal 5:22-23 in an epexegetical sense?
>   

HH: As I suggested earlier, Paul in Gal 3:16 makes a deliberate point of 
contrasting "seed" and "seeds" when he wants to makes a point based on 
the number of a noun that is normally a collective singular. And it is 
an artificial rhetorical point, since the word "seed" in the OT 
references he is citing intend a collective singular, not a strictly 
numerical singular meaning a single seed.

But Paul does nothing deliberate, artificial, or rhetorical with the 
word "fruit" in Gal 5:22. He gives no hint of a special meaning, so the 
reader has no real basis for assuming that "fruit" signifies anything 
other than the normal collective singular denotation that the word 
regularly has.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
> Blessings,
> Scott Wells
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Harold Holmyard
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 08:26
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] love: or love,
>
> Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
>   
>> Dear Mitch,
>>
>> I think it is taking it to its logical conclusion since "fruit = 
>> KARPOS" is being taken as singular not as a plural "fruits." Without 
>> love, one cannot have joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, ... These
>>     
> "fruit of the Spirit"
>   
>> flow from the one to other. Furthermore, it is the opposite of the 
>> works
>> (deeds) of the flesh which come quite naturally to the human being. 
>> Paul uses the same logic in distinguishing between "seed = singular" 
>> versus "seed = plural" in dealing with the promised being given to Isaac
>>     
> in 3:15-20.
>   
>>   
>>     
>
> HH: The word "fruit" in its Hebrew, Greek, and English forms is a collective
> singular, so there is no problem in speaking of different kinds of fruit.
> Paul's logic in arguing that the seed applies to Christ as the singular seed
> is an artificial argument, since "seed" is likewise a collective singular.
> His readers should have understood the argument to be artificial, aimed at
> making a point. Paul deliberately makes such an argument, but he does not do
> that in Gal 5:22-23.




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