[B-Greek] 1 Timothy 4:4-5 -- syntax

Doug Knighton douglas.knighton at gmail.com
Sun Oct 10 19:57:35 EDT 2010


I am struggling with the syntax of 1 Timothy 4:4-5. The text reads: PAN
KTISMA QIOU KALON KAI [OUDEN APOBLHTON META EUXARISTIAS LAMBANOMENON]
hAGIAZETAI GAR DIA LOGOU ktl; in particular the portion in brackets.
 
Most English renderings treat PAN ... KALON as a clause and OUDEN ...
LAMBANOMENON as a separate (conditional) clause, followed by another clause
in verse 5. E.g. the ESV: "Everything created by God is good, and nothing is
to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by
the word of God and prayer."
 
I don't understand how an imperatival construct is justified between OUDEN &
APOBLHTON, nor do I understand how the present participle of LAMBANW
suggests a condtion. Maybe this is just a hermeneutical issue, but I could
use some expertise on understanding the syntax of the sentence.
 
For what it's worth, it seems more natural to me to hold both KALON and
OUDEN APOBLHTON as predicate adjectives modifying KTISMA. This would mean
that the participle (construed directly with the GAR clause) would also
modify the head noun. So I would render the idea this way: Every creation of
God is perfectly conceived & executed (= KALON), and nothing is thrown away;
[each to be] received with gratitude, for it is made holy by means of the
word of God and prayer. 
 
Doug Knighton



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