[B-Greek] Rom 8:4, "That which is impossible to the law"

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Thu Aug 27 15:40:35 EDT 2009


Rom. 8:1 Οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς  
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.  2 ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ  
πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ  
ἠλευθέρωσέν σε ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς  
ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου.  3 Τὸ γὰρ  
ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει  
διὰ τῆς σαρκός, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ  
υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς  
ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας  
κατέκρινεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ  
σαρκί,  4 ἵνα τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου  
πληρωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ κατὰ σάρκα  
περιπατοῦσιν ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα.

ROM. 8:1 OUDEN ARA NUN KATAKRIMA TOIS EN CRISTWi IHSOU. 2 hO GAR NOMOS  
TOU PNEUMATOS THS ZWHS EN CRISTWi IHSOU HLEUQERWSEN SE APO TOU NOMOU  
THS hAMARTIAS KAI TOU QANATOU. 3 TO GAR ADUNATON TOU NOMOU EN hWi  
HSQENEI DIA THS SARKOS, hO QEOS TON hEAUTOU hUION PEMYAS EN hOMOIWMATI  
SARKOS hAMARTIAS KAI PERI hAMARTIAS KATEKRINEN THN hAMARTIAN EN THi  
SARKI, 4 hINA TO DIKAIWMA TOU NOMOU PLHRWQHi EN hHMIN TOIS MH KATA  
SARKA PERIPATOUSIN ALLA KATA PNEUMA.


On Aug 27, 2009, at 12:04 AM, Donald COBB wrote:

> Elizabeth, should I assume from your lack of references that a  
> search of TO GAR ADUNATON in TLG didn't turn up anything  
> substantial? I agree that that research would be germane to Paul's  
> expression here (unfortunately, I don't have access to TLG).
>



Donald,

Thank you for explaining Paul's argument, it helped to refresh my  
memory. It has been 40 years since I took a class specifically on  
Romans from a German professor who delivered his exposition of the  
Greek Text in English but didn't understand his audience.

>
>
>  Rom 8:3 seems to be without similar construction in Paul.



Reading through Sandy & Headlam, 2Cor. 6:13 was suggested as an  
example of a similar use of an accuastive constituent.

2Cor. 6:11 Τὸ στόμα ἡμῶν ἀνέῳγεν πρὸς  
ὑμᾶς, Κορίνθιοι, ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν  
πεπλάτυνται·  12 οὐ στενοχωρεῖσθε ἐν  
ἡμῖν, στενοχωρεῖσθε δὲ ἐν τοῖς  
σπλάγχνοις ὑμῶν·  13 τὴν δὲ αὐτὴν  
ἀντιμισθίαν, ὡς τέκνοις λέγω,  
πλατύνθητε καὶ ὑμεῖς.

2COR. 6:11 TO STOMA hHMWN ANEWiGEN PROS hUMAS, KORINQIOI, hH KARDIA  
hHMWN PEPLATUNTAI· 12 OU STENOCWREISQE EN hHMIN, STENOCWREISQE DE EN  
TOIS SPLAGCNOIS hUMWN· 13 THN DE AUTHN ANTIMISQIAN, hWS TEKNOIS LEGW,  
PLATUNQHTE KAI hUMEIS.
Once again, looking at discourse function, THN ... AUTHN ANTIMISQIAN  
seems to be a syntatically independant contextualizer, "in regard  
to ..."   PLATUNQHTE KAI hUMEIS. M.J. Harris (2Cor 2005) lists  
"accusative of respect" and "accusative absolute" as two of the  
possible readings for THN ... AUTHN ANTIMISQIAN.  Moule (Idioms p. 
35-36) and Turner (p245) suggest that this is an accusative in  
apposition to a whole sentence[1].  This is the traditional framework  
again. I didn't find the discussion (Harris, Moule, Turner) these  
categories very helpful

>

Elizabeth Kline

[1] In what sense is "the accusative in apposition to a whole  
sentence" a category of syntax? I thought syntax had to do with  
sentences.





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