Romans 1:23

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ronsnider1
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Romans 1:23

Post by ronsnider1 »

My question relates to how one understands and classifies the genitive string in Romans 1:23 that follows the en clause. The entire phrase relates to that which was exchanged for the glory of the incorruptible God, but I am having a little trouble identifying the type of genitives used here.

καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν.

I copied the unicode text and pasted it here, and you can see what I got. Is there some simple way to insert the text into my question so it is readable by everyone?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Ron Snider
Ron Snider
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Makarios Bible Church of Sarasota
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Romans 1:23

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Thanks for including the Unicode for the text. It reads fine. The nice about going to a web forum, as opposed to the old email system, is that Unicode is generally supported by modern browsers.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
cwconrad
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Re: Romans 1:23

Post by cwconrad »

ronsnider1 wrote:My question relates to how one understands and classifies the genitive string in Romans 1:23 that follows the en clause. The entire phrase relates to that which was exchanged for the glory of the incorruptible God, but I am having a little trouble identifying the type of genitives used here.

καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν.
It's pretty clear, I'd say, that εἰκόνος depends upon ὁμοιώματι and that φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν all depend upon εἰκόνος. I would think too that φθαρτοῦ, although linked directly with ἀνθρώπου, is implicitly understood also with the other genitive nouns as well. The four genitive nouns dependent on εἰκόνος all fall under the most basic category of adnominal genitives, whether you call it "possessive" or "genitive of belonging". Categorizing the adnominal linkage of εικόνος to ὁμοιώματι is perhaps less clearcut (if it really matters -- the meaning of the phrase is hardly in doubt!); I think I'd call it an "appositive" or "explanatory" genitive (cf. Smyth, §1322): "a likeness, i.e. an image of ... ".
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

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