[B-Greek] Anarthrous vs Arthrous Genitive in II Corinthians 3:6 & 3:14

Mark Lightman lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Thu Jul 23 19:10:40 EDT 2009


--- On Thu, 7/23/09, Bryant J. Williams III <bjwvmw at com-pair.net> wrote:




<Dear List,

[3:6]
hOS KAI hIKANWSEN hMAS DIAKONOUS
 KAINHS DIAQHKHS, OU GRAMMATOS ALLA
 PNEUMATOS; TO GAR GRAMMA APOKTENNEI,
 TO DE ZWiOPOIEI.

[3:14]
ALLA EPWRWQH TA NOHMATA AUTWN.
 AXRI GAR THS SHMERON hMERAS TO
 AUTHO KALUMMA EPI THi ANAGNWSEI THS PALAIAS DIAQHKHS MENEI MH ANAKALUPTOMENON, hOTI EN XRISTWi
 KATARGEITAI.

How would the anarthrous genitive, DIAQHKHS
 be used here? Is it an Objective Genitive or
 Descriptive Genitive especially since
 THS PALAIAS DIAQHKH is used in 3:14?

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III>
 

Hi Bryant,
 
Two good questions.
 
I don't think v 6 is an objective genitive because
I don't think Paul means to say that he is serving
the New Covenant.  He is serving UNDER the
New Covenant, DURING the new covenant, so
I guess I would call it a genitive of time, or a
dispensational genitive--I'm trying not to joke here.
 
It never occurred to me before but I suppose you 
could call v. 14 an exepegetical genitive, "at the reading,
that is to say, the Old Covenant."  At this time in
Jewish and Christian worship it is likely that nothing
else was read in this liturgical sense except the Torah and
the Haftorah, so there would be no need to specify
what was read.
 
As I've said many times, I think the best part of B-Greek
is when people notice stuff like this and raise the questions.
The answers are rarely definitive but it is the question that
matters.  

Mark L
FWSFOROS



      


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