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

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Fri Aug 28 14:12:08 EDT 2009


On Aug 27, 2009, at 10:46 PM, Donald COBB wrote:

> The text of 2 Cor 6,13 is indeed an interesting parallel, if  
> somewhat partial (fem. noun vs. substantivized adj.), in that it  
> shows Paul lending weight to an idea by placing it as a fronted  
> accusative.

Donald,

I will suggest that there is somewhat more in common between these  
constructions. The text again:

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.
.
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.
.
There is a confluence between traditional syntax and discourse  
analysis at the point of  fronted "absolute" constructions. On  2COR.  
6:13   H.A.W. Meyer (2Cor English ed. 1883) states "The accusative THN  
AUTHN ANTIMISQIAN ... is anacoluthic (accusative absolute), so that it  
emphatically sets forth an object of discourse, without grammatically  
attaching to it the further construction." Fronted absolute emphatic  
constituents have been with us for a long time, but that isn't the  
point at which I was comparing 2COR. 6:13 with ROM. 8:3. I was  
suggesting that both THN AUTHN ANTIMISQIAN and TO ADUNATON TOU NOMOU  
serve as contextualizers[1], they are discourse ligaments which tie  
the following comments to what has been said in the immediately  
preceding context. This is a typical discourse function for a fronted  
absolute construction.
.
Elizabeth Kline
  .
[1] Terminology is always a problem. Helma Dik (Word Order in Greek  
Tragic Dialogue 2007 U.Chicago) uses the term "theme" for extra- 
clausal fronted constituents and distinguishes it from "topic" in the  
topic-comment construction. This appears to be a departure from how  
the term is used in the Prague school theme-rheme. Halliday used a  
term "point of departure" which is picked up by Levinsohn who uses it  
in a very confusing manner which is why I avoid the term. The concept  
"point of departure" isn't equivalent to Helma Dik's "theme" and her  
"theme" is not equivalent to my contextualizers or discourse  
ligaments. A contextualizer a.k.a discourse ligament is a semantically  
significant constituent (i.e., not a conjunction) used between  
predications in an argument or narrative which serves to semantically  
"tie things together". It doesn't have to be an absolute construction.  
It might be a fronted element in the following clause.

I should probably make a distinction between a discourse ligament and  
what Helma DIk calls a "setting" constituent. A setting constituent is  
used in narrative to introduce a new development in the shoreline. It  
shares somethings in common with discourse ligaments, it is typically  
(not always) fronted. It is typically extra-clausal, without a  
grammatical connection to clause it introduces. It does serve to tie  
the following narrative segment to the rest of the story but the  
semantic content, the information provided in a setting constituent  
may be new information (time, location ...) which is not typical of  
contextualizers in general. One might choose to think of setting  
constituents as a subclass of contextualizers, particularly relevant  
to narrative.





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