[B-Greek] 1 Tim 1:3-7 1 or 2 sentences
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Tue Nov 6 15:49:13 EST 2007
On Nov 5, 2007, at 8:26 PM, Charles Clayton wrote:
> I was looking at these 5 verses this evening trying to determine if
> they
> make only one sentence or if they make two. When I looked to my
> Bibles for
> help, they only offered confusion. The UBS and NA indicate a stop
> at the
> end of verse 4 but it is the stop that is not equivalent to a
> period in
> English. The MT (Majority Text) editors indicate a lesser stop
> than UBS or
> NA (which I think is equivalent to a semi-colon).
What editions of UBS,NA and MT are you using? Robinson, Pierpont
2005:480 has a full stop after EN PISTEI in verse four and so do UBS3
and NA26, NA27.
>
>
>
>
> If ESTIN in verse 5 is considered a main verb, then why should the
> editors
> not start a new sentence with TO DE TELOS?
They do. See discussion below.
> If there is a good reason not to
> considered it a sentence, then why even indicate a stop here? I
> know that
> the punctuation is something that the editors have added over the
> years but
> it does not make sense to me here.
>
>
>
> So maybe a few of you can clarify for me what exactly constitutes a
> sentence
> in Greek (I thought you just needed a finite verb) and possibly what
> advantage there is to noting a stop that is less than a sentence
> but more
> than a subordinating clause.
1TIM. 1:3 KAQWS PAREKALESA SE PROSMEINAI EN EFESWi POREUOMENOS EIS
MAKEDONIAN, hINA PARAGGEILHiS TISIN MH hETERODIDASKALEIN 4 MHDE
PROSECEIN MUQOIS KAI GENEALOGIAIS APERANTOIS, hAITINES EKZHTHSEIS
PARECOUSIN MALLON H OIKONOMIAN QEOU THN EN PISTEI. 5 TO DE TELOS THS
PARAGGELIAS ESTIN AGAPH EK KAQARAS KARDIAS KAI SUNEIDHSEWS AGAQHS KAI
PISTEWS ANUPOKRITOU, 6 hWN TINES ASTOCHSANTES EXETRAPHSAN EIS
MATAIOLOGIAN 7 QELONTES EINAI NOMODIDASKALOI, MH NOOUNTES MHTE hA
LEGOUSIN MHTE PERI TINWN DIABEBAIOUNTAI.
Levinsohn 2000:294 [1] defines a sentence as a "single independent
clause, together with those clauses that are subordinate to it."
Mounce (Past.Epist. WBC) and Marshal (Past.Epist. ICC) read DE in
1Tim. 1:5 as an adversative which starts a new sentence following an
unfinished sentence in 1:3-4. Mounce and Marshal understand THS
PARAGGELIAS in v.5 as in some sense coreferential with PARAGGEILHiS
in v.3, contra Meyer and Alford.
Levinsohn 2000:112-113 borrowing extensively from Hekert 1996:47-56
[2] argues that DE when used in either an adversative or a connective
context indicates development and he departs somewhat from the
traditional binary analysis of DE as either adversative or
connective. "If DE is not adversative marker, yet occurs in contexts
in which contrast can be discerned, what is it that conveys the
adversative sense?". Levinsohn argues that the contrast is indicated
by "at least two opposing pairs of lexical terms" (Longacre 1996:55)
[3] "which are:
1. perceived as the same in certain respects
2. perceived as different in certain respects
3: compared with respect to one or more of these differences"
Levinsohn:2000 p113 from Mann & Thompson:1987 p8.
Applying this test to 1Tim 1:3-7, identifying with precision the
point of contrast between the statement in v.5 and what precedes
isn't all that simple. I am not sure that this passage really passes
the test as it is defined above. Furthermore it would be interesting
to know how Levinsohn would demonstrate that DE in v.5 marks a
development in thought from the preceding context.
Meyer places HS PARAGGELIAS v.5 in contrast with hETERODIDASKALEIN v.
3 or more precisely TO TELOS THS PARAGGELIAS is contrasted with the
results of hETERODIDASKALEIN ... EKZHTHSEIS PARECOUSIN (Mounce).
I have difficulty understanding THS PARAGGELIAS in v.5 as in any
sense coreferential with PARAGGEILHiS in v.3. The article before
PARAGGELIAS in v.5 could be understood as either exophoric or
cataphoric. It doesn't need to be anaphoric.
If we want to establish a contrast of some sort between v.5 and vs.
3-4 the critical word appears to be TO TELOS, it is the goal or
result of hETERODIDASKALEIN which is being contrasted with TO TELOS
THS PARAGGELIAS. In any event, verse five starts a new sentence
Elizabeth Kline
[1] Levinsohn, Stephen Discourse Features of New Testament Greek,2nd Ed.
SIL2000.
[2] Hekert, Jakob A. "Discourse function of conjoiners in the
Pastoral Epistles" Dallas:SIL 1996.
[3]Longacre, Robert E. "The Grammar of Discourse" New York: Plenum
Press, 2nd edition, 1996
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