[B-Greek] Accusative of retained object

Bert de Haan b_dehaan at sympatico.ca
Mon May 21 11:59:51 EDT 2007


The second part of Rom.3:2 reads;
πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια 
τοῦ θεοῦ.
PRWTON MEN hOTI EPISTEUQHSAN TA LOGIA TOU QEOU.
I could not figure this line out even though it is only short and I know all 
the words.
TA LOGIA is what caused the difficulty.  The translations I checked have 
something like 'with the words of God'.
First of all, they were entrusted with the words of God.
I found what maybe an explanation in Wallace's GGBB on page 438.
I will quote some of it.
"Although it seems a bit odd to native English speakers, Greek sometimes 
uses an accusative with a true passive verb.  The major usage for such a 
structure involves the accusative of retained object. In this instance, the 
accusative of thing in a double accusative person-thing construction with an 
active verb retains its case when the verb is put in the passive. The 
accusative of person, in such instances, becomes the subject. This use of 
the accusative occurs most frequently with causative verbs, though it is 
rare in the NT."
Is there a reason why the accusative case is retained instead of using a 
genitive (or maybe a dative here)?
Does it emphasize something or is it just "one of those things"?
Can you possibly provide a paragraph # in Smyth that deals with this?
Thanks
Bert de Haan





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