Eph 3:1: Does Τούτου χάριν point backward or forward?
Posted: October 1st, 2014, 2:33 am
I'm not sure where this question belongs best. I might think it's a beginner's question because Wallace, BDF, BDAG, and the commentaries I checked don't speak to this issue. Eph 3:1 begins,
Τούτου χάριν ἐγὼ Παῦλος ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Τούτου χάριν does point backwards to some portion of Ephesians 2, at least vv. 11-22. What my question means is, Do these two words connect syntactically only with what precedes them, or also with what follows, so that the genitive prepositional phrase is actually acting like a nominative subject and connecting to I, Paul?
The commentaries I checked made no comment on the issue of the relation of the first two words, prep. with genitive, to the nominative ἐγὼ Παῦλος
However, while
ESV, NASB have For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ
and NET has For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ (a slight variation)
NRSV has This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ
and CEB has This is why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles.
I would never look at all these English translations for a Greek syntax question. I was "alerted" to the issue when I was grading a student paper that used the NRSV, and I didn't know anyone had taken the grammar this alternative way.
Is there any grammatical rule I don't know that would point make the likelihood of one or the other of these more representative of the text's intent? I know this is not a forum for English translations, but after looking in Wallace, the Baylor Handbook on Ephesians, BDF, BDAG, and some other items, it seemed like this must be something obvious. Yet, it isn't, at least if the NRSV and NASB translators went totally different directions. Is there a basis to decide between the two? Everything I found simply seemed to assume the NASB/ESV/NET understanding of the Greek, but I'm not prepared to assume that the NRSV translators goofed. There must be some flexibility here I gather.
Any input on this?
Τούτου χάριν ἐγὼ Παῦλος ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Τούτου χάριν does point backwards to some portion of Ephesians 2, at least vv. 11-22. What my question means is, Do these two words connect syntactically only with what precedes them, or also with what follows, so that the genitive prepositional phrase is actually acting like a nominative subject and connecting to I, Paul?
The commentaries I checked made no comment on the issue of the relation of the first two words, prep. with genitive, to the nominative ἐγὼ Παῦλος
However, while
ESV, NASB have For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ
and NET has For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ (a slight variation)
NRSV has This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ
and CEB has This is why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles.
I would never look at all these English translations for a Greek syntax question. I was "alerted" to the issue when I was grading a student paper that used the NRSV, and I didn't know anyone had taken the grammar this alternative way.
Is there any grammatical rule I don't know that would point make the likelihood of one or the other of these more representative of the text's intent? I know this is not a forum for English translations, but after looking in Wallace, the Baylor Handbook on Ephesians, BDF, BDAG, and some other items, it seemed like this must be something obvious. Yet, it isn't, at least if the NRSV and NASB translators went totally different directions. Is there a basis to decide between the two? Everything I found simply seemed to assume the NASB/ESV/NET understanding of the Greek, but I'm not prepared to assume that the NRSV translators goofed. There must be some flexibility here I gather.
Any input on this?