[B-Greek] Jude 3
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Nov 28 14:21:42 EST 2008
On Nov 28, 2008, at 2:02 PM, rhutchin at aol.com wrote:
> In Jude 3, we read,
Going through Jude line by line? I think there's some rough riding
ahead!
> AGAPHTOI PASAN SPOUDHN POIOUMENOS GRAFEIN hUMIN PERI THS KOINHS
> hHMWN SWTHRIAS ANAGKHN ESCON GRAYAI hUMIN PARAKALWN EPAGWNIZESQAI
> THi hAPAX PARADOQEISHi TOIS hAGIOIS PISTEI
>
> 1. What is the sense of this verse? Is it:
>
> a. In haste I write this; the reason is that it is necessary that…
>
> b. I was eager to write of salvation, BUT then I determined that I
> needed to write instead to…
>
> c. something else.
d. all of the above? I love these multiple-choice responses! In my
judgment PASAN SPOUDHN POIOUMENOS GRAFEIN hUMIN and ANAGKHN ESCON
GRAYAI hUMIN are redundant: "Because I'm utterly concerned to write to
you, I just had to write to you ... " Or: "Seeing as how I'm utterly
concerned to write to you about the salvation that we share, I just
had to write to you with an exhortation to do battle for the faith
that was once committed to the saints ... "
> 2. In the phrase, THi hAPAX PARADOQEISHi TOIS hAGIOIS PISTEI, does
> THi go with PARADOQEISHi or with PISTEI? Are we to contend for –
> the faith, once delivered to the saints – or are we to contend for
> – (the once delivered to the saints) faith? Does it even make a
> difference?
THi ... PISTEI is a single unit functioning as complement to the
infinitive EPAGWNIZESQAI. It is not at all uncommon in Greek to
"sandwich" or enclose syntactically-interrelated elements of a noun
phrase together between the article and the noun.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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