[B-Greek] 1Co 13:7 PANTA believe all?

nebarry nebarry at verizon.net
Fri May 13 08:24:25 EDT 2011


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "Barry H." <nebarry at verizon.net>
Cc: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>; <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 7:19 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1Co 13:7 PANTA believe all?


> No, I don't think it involves hermeneutics or theology. But I think it 
> does
> involve Greek usage and I'm inclined to think this is one of those phrases
> that is indicative of whether one is thinking in terms of Greek or English
> idiom. The subject is AGAPH, the language is figurative. It's not about
> loving God or God loving people, but about how one who really AGAPHN
> ECEI behaves toward other persons. The standard English versions do
> in fact render it "believes all things" -- but that's not really standard 
> English;
> rather, we say, "believes everything" or "is altogether trusting." You
> might want to call this an accusative of respect with a neuter plural
> adjective as the equivalent of an adverbial expression, or call it an
> adverbial accusative. These terms, like so many of our grammatical
> terms, have been coined more as aids to translators than as significant
> indications of the way the Greek works. I don't think that the mind
> thinking in Greek gives a second thought to the difference between
> a "direct object" and an "adverbial accusative."

Well, yeah.  The thought that occurs to me is that all accusatives, 
including what we call the direct object, are adverbial -- after all, the 
d.o. modifies the action of the verb by indicating the direction of the 
action, so to speak. Here, it's part of a series (nicely done from a 
rhetorical perspective), all with verbs that normally take accusatives.  I 
agree that a native Greek speaker wouldn't have given the grammar a second 
thought, but I can also here him asking the question, "Does Paul mean that 
literally?" or some such...  So I think that it does involve hermeneutics 
and theology beyond simply the grammar and syntax.

> And Barry, when I read your signature motto, it reminds me of
> euphemisms generally, but especially of those old bowdlerizing
> versions -- yea, verily, even Loeb editions -- that offer a French
> rather than English version of the obscene expressions or poems --
> even when there's a common English expression that everybody
> knows!

This actually occurred to me after I thought of the tag line.

N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Classics and Bible @ TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net




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