[B-Greek] TI in 1 Cor 3:5
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 31 16:19:35 EST 2008
Τί οὖν ἐστιν Ἀπολλῶς; τί δέ ἐστιν Παῦλος; διάκονοι διʼ ὧν ἐπιστεύσατε, καὶ ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ κύριος ἔδωκεν.
TI OUN ESTIN APOLLWS? TI DE ESTIN PAULOS? DIAKONOI DI' hWN EPISTEUSATE, KAI hEKASTWi hW hO KURIOS EDWKEN.
When you translate as "Is Paul …" you are likewise taking it as an interrogative. Otherwise it would be "Apollos is important. Paul is important" since εἶναί τι [EINAI TI] as a non-interrogative is used to convey the idea of "amount to something." I think the interrogative is the best understanding (and apparently you do as well).
george
gfsomsel
… search for truth, hear truth,
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
defend the truth till death.
- Jan Hus
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: Ian Scott <iscott at tyndale.ca>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:28:11 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] TI in 1 Cor 3:5
Hi
folks,
I'm
working
through
1
Cor
3
with
a
class
and
it
occurred
to
me
that
there
is
an
ambiguity
in
the
opening
TI
of
3:5
that
is
not
usually
recognized
(at
least
not
in
the
literature
I'm
familiar
with).
It's
usually
translated
(and
accented)
as
an
interrogative
pronoun,
"what?"
But
could
it
be
a
simple
indefinite
pronoun,
"something?"
In
that
case
we
would
take
TI
as
the
predicate
of
the
clause,
rather
than
the
interrogative
subject.
The
resulting
translation
would
be
"Is
Paul,
then,
something
(i.e.,
significant)?"
I
suspect
that
this
is
not
usually
entertained
because
TI
at
the
opening
of
a
question
is
usually
interrogative,
but
is
there
any
reason
it
could
not
simply
be
indefinite?
In
favor
of
that
reading
I
notice
that
Paul's
statement
in
3:7
seems
like
a
direct
answer
to
the
question
of
3:5
-
-
"neither
the
planter
nor
the
waterer
is
anything
(ESTIN
TI)
.
.
."
Cheers,
Ian
Ian
W.
Scott,
Ph.D.
(McMaster)
Assistant
Professor
of
New
Testament
Tyndale
Seminary
Toronto,
Canada
email:
iscott at tyndale.ca
url:
http://www.ian-w-scott.com
(
http://www.ian-w-scott.com/
)
===================================
Implicit
Epistemology
in
the
Letters
of
Paul:
Story,
Experience,
and
the
Spirit
(WUNT
II/205;
Tubingen:
Mohr
Siebeck,
2006).
(
http://www.tyndale.ca/~iscott/main/viewpage.php?pid=67
)
===================================
The
Online
Critical
Pseudepigrapha
http://www.purl.org/net/ocp
---
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