[B-Greek] Attraction of the Relative in Eph 2:10

yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Mon Dec 14 00:36:08 EST 2009


I think that the point of saying that the attraction is largely semantic and only loosely or potentially grammatical (conforming to rules of syntax) is really that attraction/assimilation does, potentially, say something regarding the thought process of the writer. For example, in the New Testament Greek relative clauses are sometimes appear to be assimilated according to semitic usage. The situation is further complicated in that Greek does not distinguish restrictive from unrestrictive relative clauses. It seems to me that Eph 2:10 is an example of a restrictive relative, not just any good works, but those good works God prepared before hand for us to walk in. That complicates the picture. Ephesians 2:10 is a particularly good example of how difficult this matter of attraction can be to sort out. Winer, in his Grammatik neutestamentlich Sprachidioms 24, 4 (p. 225) has an interesting discussion of this passage. Here is a translation (my German is not very good, so I will include the original text. Iver or another list member could do better.) To me, Winer seems to suggest that οἶς is not necessarily an example of attraction to the antecedent at all, which is why I suggested it is, rather, "attracted" to ἐν αὐτοῖς (which would not be not "attraction" at all):

κτισθέντες ... επὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς οἶς προητοίμασεν ὀ θεὸς ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν cannot mean (without attraction to the antecedent): for which God has prepared us, etc, since ἠμᾶς would not then be elided. But simple attraction is unacceptable: “the [works] which (οἶς = ἅ) God has prepared beforehand,” because the phrase  would then not construe with the phrase “we might walk in them”  that is, the good works need not be the works previously prepared. Therefore οἶς  (without attraction to the antecedent) should not therefore be masculine: we, for whom God has prepared them, to walk in them (Rüchert), taken in this way οἶς would be construed with ἐν αὐτοῖς = ἐν οἶς as in 22,7 (p. 200).  Thus (also) without attraction to the antecedent: "in which to walk God has prepared for us," or, more closely replicating the structure: "with regard to which God has prepared that we should walk in them."

κτισθέντες … επὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς οἶς προητοίμασεν ὀ θεὸς ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν kann nicht (ohne Assimilation) heißen: für die uns Gott vorherbereitet hat, damit usw., da ἠμᾶς dann nicht zu entbehren wäre. Aber auch die einfach Assimilation ist unannehmbar: die (ἅ) Gott vorherbereitet hat; denn dazu, dass die Menschen in guten Werken wandeln, müssen nicht die Werke vorherbereitet werden. Soll also οἶς nicht (ohne Assimilation) Maskulinum sein: wir, denen es Gott vorherbereitet hat, in ihnen zu wandeln (Rüchert), so ist es nach 22,7 mit ἐν αὐτοῖς zusammenzufassen = ἐν οἶς (also ebenfalls ohne Assimilation): in denen zu wandeln Gott für uns vorherbereitet hat, oder mit genauerer Nachbildung der Struktur: bezüglich deren Gott vorherbereitet hat, dass wir ihnen wandeln sollen.

Yancy Smith, PhD
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
yancy at wbtc.com
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