[B-Greek] Collective Singular "Seed"
S. Harrison
harrison at tbc.net
Thu May 24 21:11:40 EDT 2007
Harold Holmyard wrote (several weeks ago):
> 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.
It is very helpful to point out that TWi SPERMATI is collective. Is
there any reason to think Paul did _not_ mean it in its collective
sense? It would make it a bit more subtle of an argument, but if his
readers would have taken it as collective, why not?
Regards,
S. Harrison
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