[B-Greek] hISTHMI in Rom 3:31

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Mar 20 09:35:40 EST 2004


Iver, I think "confirm"or "affirm" would do for hISTANOMEN here, or
perhaps, as antithesis to "annul" for KATARGEW we might use "validate."

At 5:18 PM +0300 3/20/04, Iver Larsen wrote:
>I'd like to follow up a bit on the present tense of hISTHMI in this passage.
>
>> >And then I should give Rom. 3,31 for discussion purposes:
>> >
>> >NOMON OUN KATARGOUMEN DIA THS PISTEWS; MH GENOITO, ALLA NOMON hISTANOMEN.
>
><snip>
>
>> >Additionally, the sense of hISTHMI in this Romans passage is quite
>> >different from the perfect tense hISTHMI when used of "standing." In
>> >Romans 3,31, the lexical sense of hISTHMI seems to be "to
>> uphold," not the sense of "to stand." Could this account for the present
>tense usage in
>> >Rom. 3,31?
>
>[Carl:]
>> --the present active hISTHMI (= hISTANW) means "I cause to stand"
>
>I really don't think that the common renderings "uphold" or "establish"
>accurately convey the meaning of hISTANOMEN in Rom 3:31, but I have not been
>able to find a single word in English that catches the meaning well.
>
>One option is "we cause the law to stand" or "we make the law stand" which
>would have to be understood in context, and especially as the opposite of
>KATARGEW (abolish, set aside, make an end to). Why is there no English
>version that does this?
>
>There are no other examples of the present tense of hISTHMI in the GNT and I
>do not have good search programs for the LXX and other Greek literature. I
>did find an example in Ez 17:14 where hISTANEIN AUTHN (Hebrew 'MD) refers to
>making the kingdom stand, i.e. causing it to continue to be in existence.
>(NIV says "survive", NCV "continue" and KJV, (N)RSV "it might stand" whereas
>a few versions like GNB and REB connected the verb with the wrong object,
>probably because of the idea of "upholding" the law in Rom 3:31.)
>
>So, is it reasonable to suggest that "we make the law stand" in Rom 3:31
>refers to its continuing existence or survival without specifying the
>relationship between the law and the believer. Paul does say much more about
>that in e.g. 8:4 and 13:8-10.
>
>One translation option is to make the meaning more explicit by bringing some
>of the wider context to bear on the exegesis and translation as the
>following idiomatic versions do:
>NLT: only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
>NCV: Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.
>JBP: We put the Law in its proper place.
>
>Any other suggestions for how to catch the meaning in English? In Danish it
>is impossible to say "make the law stand", so we tried "we put the law in
>its proper place" following J.B. Phillips. But I cannot say that I am
>totally satisfied with it.
>
>Iver Larsen
>
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-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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