From: James H. Vellenga (jhv0@viewlogic.com)
Date: Tue Mar 05 1996 - 16:22:01 EST
Re: ERGASIAN AKAQARSIAS PASHS
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>From Gary Shogren:
ERGASIAN I can see as a nice solid example of an
action noun, making AKATHARSIAS an objective (or perchance subjective)
genitive.
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>From Carlton Winbery:
It is clear that AKAQARSIAS cannot be subjective genitive since those who
are practicing (ERGASIAN) uncleanness are the ones who have given
themselves over to wantonness. It is not the uncleanness that is doing it
but the people about whom Paul is speaking. The objective genitive would
be the object of the action implied by the noun (or noun substitute) which
the word in the genitive modifies. The subjective genitive on the other
hand would have to denote the agent of the action implied by the noun that
it modifies. Take ERGASIAN and make it into a verb. AKAQARSIAS could be
the object of such a verb but not the subject of it.
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My own thoughts:
It seems to me that ERGASIA (in general) is not necessarily a noun of action.
Consider Acts 19.24 ("Demetrius ... was providing no little ERGASIAN to the
artisans") or Acts 16.19 ("her masters, seeing that the hope of their ERGASIAS
had gone ..."). In these contexts, ERGASIA seems to mean "business,"
"occupation," or "way of making a living."
This interpretation seems strengthened by the phrase "EN PLEONEXIAi" ("by means
of acquisitiveness") at the end of the sentence here in Eph 4.19.
So it seems more natural to me to interpret AKARQIAS as a descriptive genitive,
and to read the phrase as something like "handed themselves over by means of
acquisitiveness to the unbridled lust for a business [characterized by] impurity
of every [kind]."
Regards,
Jim V.
James H. Vellenga | jvellenga@viewlogic.com
Viewlogic Systems, Inc. __|__ 508-480-0881
293 Boston Post Road West | FAX: 508-480-0882
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