Romans 6:21 agreement
Posted: January 28th, 2015, 1:39 pm
The pertinent text: τίνα οὖν καρπὸν εἴχετε τότε ἐφ' οἷς νῦν ἐπαισχύνεσθε; τὸ γὰρ τέλος ἐκείνων θάνατος.
My questions have to do with the matter of grammatical agreement, which appears to begin with the noun καρπὸν (fruit, outcome, result, produce) which looks to be explained by the prepositional phrase ἐφ' οἷς (which I believe is only used here). I would naturally be inclined to see the term fruit expanded by the "on the bases of which things" that might include both the actions under the old master (the sin nature) and the embarrassing results of those actions (fruit). However, later in the verse, the remote demonstrative ἐκείνων is used, which brings up another issue. My version of Bibleworks parses the relative as a neuter and the demonstrative as a masculine (suggesting perhaps people are in view), but the form for those is the same in the masculine and neuter gender.
I know there is a question as to where to place the question mark in the sentence, but I am more concerned about antecedants and to what exactly these terms refer.
Any insight is appreciated.
Ron Snider
My questions have to do with the matter of grammatical agreement, which appears to begin with the noun καρπὸν (fruit, outcome, result, produce) which looks to be explained by the prepositional phrase ἐφ' οἷς (which I believe is only used here). I would naturally be inclined to see the term fruit expanded by the "on the bases of which things" that might include both the actions under the old master (the sin nature) and the embarrassing results of those actions (fruit). However, later in the verse, the remote demonstrative ἐκείνων is used, which brings up another issue. My version of Bibleworks parses the relative as a neuter and the demonstrative as a masculine (suggesting perhaps people are in view), but the form for those is the same in the masculine and neuter gender.
I know there is a question as to where to place the question mark in the sentence, but I am more concerned about antecedants and to what exactly these terms refer.
Any insight is appreciated.
Ron Snider