[B-Greek] John 2:15--PANTAS ... TA TE PROBATA AND TOUS BOAS

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Oct 26 05:43:18 EDT 2010


On Oct 26, 2010, at 1:59 AM, Leonard Jayawardena wrote:
> 
> 
> I came across the following instructive parallels to John 2:15--i.e., passages having the TE ... KAI structure--while doing other studies in the NT. (The last thread on this topic was closed more than two months ago--due to no fault of mine--and I hope that it is not too soon to post another message on the same topic.)
> 
> 1. PANTI TWi PISTEUONTI, IOUDAIWi TE PRWTON KAI hLLHNI (Romans 1:16)--"to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek"
> 
> 2. EPI PASAN YSUCHN ANQRWPOU TOU KATERGAZOMENOU TO KAKON, IOUDAIOU TE PRWTON KAI hLLHNOS (Romans 2:9)--"upon every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek" 
> 
> 3. PANTI TWi ERGAZOMENOU TO AGAQON, IOUDAIWi TE PRWTON KAI hALLHNI (Romans 2:10)--"to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and to the Greek"
> 
> 4. IOUDAIOUS TE KAI hLLHNAS PANTAS hUF' hAMARTIAN EINAI (Romans 3:9)--"all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin"
> 
> In all of the above cases, the TE ... KAI phrase is in aposition to PAS, furnishing an exact parallel to John 2:15.

#2 doesn't quite fit your mold exactly in terms of grammar, since the TE ... KAI links ANQRWPOU KATERGAZOMENOU TO KAKON subspecies.. 
> 
> In the following passages, a TE ... KAI phrase is in aposition to some other word:
> 
> 1. KATEBHSAN AMFOTEROI EIS TO hUDWR, hO TE FILIPPOS KAI hO EUNOUCOS (Acts 8:38)--"they both went down into the water, Philipp as well as the eunuch"
> 
> 2. hOPWS EAN TINAS hEURH THS hDOU ONTAS, ANDRAS TE KAI GUNAIKAS (Acts 9:2)--"so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women" 
> 
> How many more such examples are necessary to prove that PANTAS ... TA TE PROBATA AND TOUS BOAS in John 2:15 means "all ... both the sheep and the oxen"?

It would probably require more than this, since PANTAS is a general masculine plural not attached directly to a noun and not followed by an intervening verb. Your interpretation may be valid, but you haven't convinced everyone that it's the only way this text can be construed.

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






More information about the B-Greek mailing list