[B-Greek] Rom 4:1

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Jul 20 19:32:56 EDT 2009


On Jul 20, 2009, at 1:25 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:

> Hi, Elizabeth. That must be v. 2.

Yes, it is.

>
> I'm curios here.
>
> I take ABRAAM and TON PROPATORA hHMWN KATA SARKA  as appositive.
>
> Doesn't this accusative case simply tell it's the agent of the verb  
> EURHKENAI?
>
> I am reading mss variant
>     "ABRAAM TON PROPATORA hHMWN KATA SARKAh EURHKENAI".
> Should the location of the verb make me change my opinion, when it
> comes at the start of this clause?


Rom. 4:1 Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν εὑρηκέναι  
Ἀβραὰμ τὸν προπάτορα ἡμῶν κατὰ  
σάρκα;  2 εἰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐξ ἔργων  
ἐδικαιώθη, ἔχει καύχημα, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ  
πρὸς θεόν.

ROM. 4:1 TI OUN EROUMEN hEURHKENAI ABRAAM TON PROPATORA hHMWN KATA  
SARKA; 2 EI GAR ABRAAM EX ERGWN EDIKAIWQH, ECEI KAUCHMA, ALL᾿ OU PROS  
QEON.
Oun,
If I understand your question correctly, I think the alt. reading  
"ABRAAM TON PROPATORA hHMWN KATA SARKA EURHKENAI" would suggest that  
KATA SARKA is adverbial with EURHKENAI. This understanding of KATA  
SARKA is adopted by Meyer who suspects that EURHKENAI was moved in  
front of ABRAAM to associate it with TON PROPATORA. Note however that  
Alford places [EURHKENAI] in brackets in front of ABRAAM, but like  
Meyer he connects KATA SARKA with EURHKENAI. It seems to me that  
Alford's take on this is somewhat counter intuitive. However,  Sandy- 
Headlam ICC cite Euthym-Zig. as the converse of Alford i.e., reading  
EURHKENAI after KATA SARKA but associating it with TON PROPATORA. Also  
counter intuitive.  Note that Sandy-Headlam don't accept this reading,  
they place EURHKENAI in front of ABRAAM associating it with TON  
PROPATORA.
There is a danger constantly present in analyzing word order issues in  
Ancient Greek to be influenced by our native language. So when I say  
something is counter intuitive I am taking into account that intuition  
is not always a reliable indicator.
Back to Iver's original question. The reading adopted by N.T. Wright,  
R. Hays ... wasn't invented in the 20th Century, Meyer cites it but  
dismisses it withering scorn.


Elizabeth Kline







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