[B-Greek] Force of KAI in 1 Cor 11:23?

Mark Goodacre goodacre at duke.edu
Fri Feb 18 11:09:17 EST 2011


Going back to Stephen's original question:

> Curious about the force of the καί KAI, I looked up the entry in BDAG
> p. 496, s.v. καί, 2f, and saw this explanation: "used w[ith] a
> relative, it oft[en] gives greater independence to the foll[owing]
> relative clause," citing 1 Cor 11:23 among other passages.
>
> What does BDAG mean by "greater independence"? Unfortunately BDAG does
> not cite any secondary literature on this point.

It looks like this bit of BDAG survives unchanged from the old BAG (or
AG as the English speaking audience often unfairly called it).   I
haven't been able to find much more discussion of the phenomenon.
Howard Marshall (Gospel of Luke, 447) on Luke 10.30 (οἳ καὶ ἐκδύσαντες
αὐτὸν . . . hOI kAI EKDUSANTES AUTON) suggests that the idiom is
"disputed", e.g. "Haenchen . . . regards it as a Koine idiom with no
particular force".  It's rarely discussed in relation to our texts.
Having looked at lots of examples, though, I am beginning to see the
force of the "greater independence" for the following relative clause.
 It's a bit like saying that it is more clearly marked off from the
previous clause than it would be without the καί (KAI) and it's what I
have been trying to get at here.  It draws out the implication but
builds on the previous clause, setting up the key information now to
come, beginning with ὅτι (hOTI), as also in 15.3.

A related issue.  Ivor mentioned Paul's use here of ἀπό (APO) in ἀπὸ
τοῦ κυρίου (APO TOU KURIOU) as indicating "ultimate source".  I agree
that that is what Paul is saying here, that the tradition originates
with Jesus, but I am not clear that we can make the claim based on the
use of ἀπό (APO), can we?  I've seen the claim from time to time but I
suspect it makes too strong a demand on ἀπό (APO).  Am I wrong?

Cheers
Mark

-- 
Mark Goodacre
Duke University
Department of Religion
Gray Building / Box 90964
Durham, NC 27708-0964    USA
Phone: 919-660-3503        Fax: 919-660-3530

http://www.markgoodacre.org



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