[B-Greek] The use of GAR in Mark 9:49

Samuel Cripps crippssamuel at yahoo.com
Thu Sep 17 19:03:15 EDT 2009


B-Greekers,
 
On page 669 of his book Beyond Basics, Daniel B. Wallace deals with subordinate conjunctions which include OTI, EI, KATHOS, GAR, and OTE. 

Here is what he says.

"The logical category includes uses indicating a movement of thought in the passage in terms of addition, contrast, conclusion, transition, or other such relationships."
 
It appears that Wallace is in fact saying that GAR can function in order to show a contrast.  Is this correct?
 
-Samuel Cripps (layman)
 




--- On Thu, 9/10/09, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:


From: Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The use of GAR in Mark 9:49
To: "Samuel Cripps" <crippssamuel at yahoo.com>
Cc: B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 7:02 PM



On Sep 10, 2009, at 1:03 PM, Samuel Cripps wrote:

> 
> B-Greekers,
> 
> During a recent discussion between myself and a friend who is trained in Biblical Greek, my friend claimed, "GAR is used to give reason and attempts to explain that which precedes it.If there is an idea after it that is connected to it, it must be understood as a contrast."  Concerning the use of GAR in Mark 9:49, my friend wrote, "Verse 49-50 through the use of gar shows a contrast in those verses. Verse 50 speaks of the disciplined life while verse 49 reaches back in time namely verse 48 and actually back even further. 'Every' must be understood as meaning 'all' but the real understanding must be in the idea that we read the text as a contrast that is to say that everyone is salted in one manner or another.That contrast is clearly defined by the use of the conjunction "gar".
> 
> So if I were to translate this text this is what it would say in a commentary form.
> 
> Every man must go through one fire or another (salted with fire) for one it is the fire of hell and for another it is the fire of self discipline of faith."
> 
> Is this correct?  Does GAR function in this manner?

It is useful to list-members to cite the text you're asking about:
Mark 9:49     Πᾶς γὰρ πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται.
[PAS GAR PURI hALISQHSETAI.]

For my part, I can't imagine where the understanding of the function of GAR offered by your friend -- that some sort of contrast is implied by it -- comes from. I would suggest a careful reading of the lengthy entry on GAR in BDAG.
As for Mark 9:49, while one may well imagine that hALISQHNAI will mean different tests for different people, I don't really see that a distinct antithesis between two alternatives is suggested, certainly not by GAR. I would sooner understand the GAR in this verse as indicating a summary statement: "So, you see, everyone is going to undergo a fire-testing." I don't think it's appropriate to offer (in translation) some extrapolated notion of what forms the fire-testing may take.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






      


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