[B-Greek] Acts 3.26 EN TWi APOSTREFEIN - instrumental or concurrenttime

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Feb 11 13:24:49 EST 2011


On Feb 11, 2011, at 9:37 AM, Iver Larsen wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Smith" <rbs58 at comcast.net>
> To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: 11. februar 2011 16:11
> Subject: [B-Greek] Acts 3.26 EN TWi APOSTREFEIN - instrumental or concurrenttime
> 
> 
>> All translations I looked at, take the construction as instrumental and hEKASTON as objective, but it seems to me that the issue in the context of Acts 3 is the decision of each wrt Jesus as the Suffering Messiah and the prophet like Moses.
>> 
>> With the present tense used for EULOGOUNTA and for APOSTREFEIN, could it not be intended for the EN TWi construction to refer to concurrent time?
>> 
>> "He sent him who blesses you when each turns"
>> 
>> Verse 23 provides a suggestion as to what may happen in the event one does not turn.
>> 
>> Given the general context, I understand PONHRIWN and hAMARTIAS to refer to the decision about Jesus as the Christ who suffers, rather than more general idea of sin in a sinner's life.
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Richard
> 
> I don't know why you think of the suffering of Christ. We have an accusative with infinitive, so hEKASTON could function as subject or as object:
> 
> ὑμῖν πρῶτον ἀναστήσας ὁ θεὸς τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτὸν εὐλογοῦντα ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἀποστρέφειν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν πονηριῶν ὑμῶν.
> hUMIN PRWTON ANASTHSAS hO QEOS TON PAIDA AUTOU APESTEILEN AUTON EULOGOUNTA hUMAS EN TWi APOSTREFEIN hEKASTON APO TWN PONHRIWN hUMWN.
> 
> God having raised up (as the prophet from Deut 18:15,18 - it refers to incarnation rather than resurrection) first for you (Jews) he sent his servant/child? blessing you in/by turning each one from your-plural sins.
> 
> If hEKASTON had been the subject I would have expected AUTOU rather than hUMWN (each one turning from his sins as the two versions quoted by Mark have it). That plural may be why most English versions take it as the object: turning each one of you people away from your-plural sins. Of course, it requires that they are willing to be turned, but that is beyond the grammar. (Vaticanus dropped hUMWN, but no ms seems to have an AUTOU.)

Also, if hEKASTON had been the subject I would have expected the appropriate verb to be the middle APOSTREFESQAI.


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






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