[B-Greek] Romans 8:3
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu Sep 3 12:25:29 EDT 2009
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From: Leonard Jayawardena <leonardj at live.com>
Date: September 3, 2009 6:05:01 AM EDT
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Romans 8:3
I have been following the recent thread on the above verse with
interest as the usual rendering of this verse found in Bible
translations has always seemed awkward to me. I think the alternative
translation proposed in the discussion on this thread resolves a
difficulty I have had with the Greek text of Romans for a long time.
The word ADUNATOS occurs in the NT nine times. Leaving out Romans 8:3,
six times it means "impossible" (e.g., PARA ANQRWPOIS TOUTO ADUNATON
ESTIN--Mt. 19:26). Twice it means "weak" (Acts 14:8 and Romans 15:1).
In the usual translation of this verse, "For what the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh...," ADUNATOS has the
meaning "impossible." I note that in the proposed alternative
translation ("In regard to the inability of the law...") ADUNATOS has
the sense it has in Acts 14:8 and Romans 15:1. Am I right in thinking
that the usual translation of Romans 8:3 goes with the sense
"impossible" and the alternative translation (where TO ADUNATON is
treated as an "accusative of general reference") goes with the sense
"incapable" or "weak"?
In Galatians 3:21 Paul writes, EI GAR EDOQH NOMOS hO DUNAMENOS
ZWOPOIHSAI, ONTWS EK NOMOU AN HN hH DIKAIOSUNH. Here the participle
DUNAMENOS means "capable" or "having the strength," which sense
corresponds in an opposite way to the sense TO ADUNATON TOU NOMOU
bears in Romans 8:3 in the alternative translation. Therefore doen't
Galatians 3:21 lend some support to taking TO ADUNATON as having the
meaning "weakness" or "inability," both epistles being from the same
author?
It may be instructive to compare the phrase TA ASQENHMATA TWN ADUNATWN
in Romans 15:1 with TO GAR ADUNATON TOU NOMOU EN hW HSQENEI DIA THS
SARKOS in Romans 8:3. We have ASQENHMATA and ADUNATWN in 15:1 and
ADUNATON and HSQENEI in 8:3. Do not these collocations support the
same basic sense for ADUNATON as for ADUNATWN?
Leonard Jayawardena
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