From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 17 2001 - 06:51:25 EDT
At 8:58 PM -0500 7/16/01, Nelson D. Kloosterman wrote:
>I was unable to access the B-Greek archives, so I will regret it if this
>question is redundant.
>
>The Greek of 1 Cor. 1:25 reads:
>
>hOTI TO MWRON TOU QEOU SOFWTERON TWN ANQRWPWN ESTIN KAI TO ASQENES TOU QEOU
>ISXUROTERON TWN ANQRWPWN.
>
>Given the frequency within the preceding context of 1 Cor. 1:18-24 of
>speaking about "wisdom" and "foolishness," may we properly understand an
>ellipsis in 1:25, so as to mean:
>
>hOTI TO MWRON TOU QEOU SOFWTERON _THS SOFIAS_ TWN ANQRWPWN ESTIN KAI TO
>ASQENES TOU QEOU ISXUROTERON _THS DUNAMEWS_ TWN ANQRWPWN.
>
>In both clauses, the genitive TWN ANQRWPWN without the ellipsis I take to
>be a genitive of comparison, but with the ellipsis to be a genitive of
>possession.
>
>Is it necessary, or simply permissible, to assume an ellipsis here?
I think I would assume a conceptual ellipsis of "wisdom" and "power"
without making any assumption that those genitives TWN ANQRWPWN are
possessive genitives--I think that's what they really are. I guess I can't
prove it, but it seems to me that there is clearly an idea expressed here
such as, "God in his wisdom is greater than human beings (in their
foolishness), etc., etc." To be sure, the positioning of TO MWRON and TO
ASQENES makes them emphatic in the context, but I think that the strict
grammatical construction is "sprung" here and that the meaning is clear
even if the grammar seems a bit lax.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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