[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)






More information about the B-Greek mailing list