[B-Greek] Ephesians 2:1

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Jul 30 02:44:10 EDT 2009


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rhutchin at aol.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 29. juli 2009 20:26
Subject: [B-Greek] Ephesians 2:1


> We have in Ephesians 2:1--
>
> KAI hUMAS ONTAS NEKROUS TOIS PARAPTWMASIN KAI TAIS hAMARTIAIS hUMWN...
>
> This passage appears to be a sentence fragment in search of something to 
> attach itself.? KJV addressed this by going all the way down to v5 to find a 
> subject for the verse (which seems, to me, to make a Greek argument very 
> difficult to follow).? More recent translations have opted to translate it as, 
> "You were dead," thus erasing what, in the Greek, appears to be a fragment.
>
> So, is the passage in v1 a sentence fragment (or are the modern translations 
> correct to have, "You were dead")?

Yes, it is a sentence fragment which needs a finite verb to be complete and that 
is why it is repeated with small variations in v. 5:
ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν
ONTAS hHMAS NEKROUS TOIS PARAPTWMASIN

In v. 5 the sentence is completed as planned by:
συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ SUNEZWOPOIHSEN TWi CRISTWi

The accusatives hUMAS and hHMAS must be the objects for SUNEZWOPOIHSEN, so it is 
likely that v. 1 was construed with v. 5b in mind, but then Paul got carried 
away and added a lot of descriptions about the sinfulness of people and then the 
mercy of God in vs. 2-4.

Before Paul comes to the main verb in 5b, he wants to establish our/your 
sinfulness rather elaborately and also establish the merciful love of God for us 
in contrast to and in the midst of that sinfulness. With these two facts as 
background, God made us alive together wiith Christ.

What modern translations do is a matter of translation style and it does not 
tell us anything about the Greek structure. NET tries to indicate the fragment 
by using ... at the end of v. 3. To ask if a translation is "correct" is a 
translation question, not a Greek grammar question.

>
> Could 2:1 be the end of the argument expressed at the end of chapter 1 in 
> v22-23 and could it then be read as "which is his body...even you,..."?

No, I don't think that is possible.

> Is there a grammatical resolution to v1 or is this an issue only in my 
> intellectually challenged mind?

Why not allow Paul to use sentence fragments? After all, he must have 
spoken/dictated the letter, and sentence fragments are common in spoken 
language.

Iver Larsen 




More information about the B-Greek mailing list