2 Timothy 3:16

How do I work out the meaning of a Greek text? How can I best understand the forms and vocabulary in this particular text?
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Brent Kleineibst
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Joined: April 19th, 2012, 10:38 am

2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Brent Kleineibst »

Hi,

I'm still very new to biblical greek. I'm busy going through Bill Mounce's lecture series. In episode 9 he deals with adjectives and states that the gender of the adjective must agree with the noun it modifies. So I am wondering how to understand the use of the masculine (according to Robinson's Morphology) ωφέλιμος in 2 Tim 3:16.
πάσα γραφή θεόπνευστος και ωφέλιμος προς διδασκαλίαν προς έλεγχον προς επανόρθωσιν προς παιδείαν την εν δικαιοσύνη
Is this word really masculine? If so, which noun does it refer to? Or is there some other rule that I haven't learnt yet?

Regards.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Some adjectives, and ὠφέλιμος is one of them, do not have distinct forms for masculine and feminine. It may look masculine but it's actually feminine.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Brent Kleineibst
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Joined: April 19th, 2012, 10:38 am

Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Brent Kleineibst »

Thanks, that makes sense. Is there any way to know when this is the case?

With the teknia course all adjectives are listed in masculine form with their endings for feminine (if different) and neuter, but my Strong's concordance doesn't seem to have anything like that. I use e-sword and the Word.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Brent Kleineibst wrote:Thanks, that makes sense. Is there any way to know when this is the case?

With the teknia course all adjectives are listed in masculine form with their endings for feminine (if different) and neuter, but my Strong's concordance doesn't seem to have anything like that. I use e-sword and the Word.
There are some commonalities among two-termination adjectives (they are often derived from compounds and verbs), but the best way to tell for sure is to look up the word in a lexicon that lists the gendered forms of adjectives. Unfortunately, the glossary in the back of Strong does not list this information.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Louis L Sorenson
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

The best way to get a handle on these things is to look at Mounce's Morphology of Biblical Greek http://www.amazon.com/Morphology-Biblic ... 0310226368. Words with alpha-privitive (e.g. ἀδύνατος) are always of two declinations. Adjectives of two terminations are very common, but not taught as being common. From what I recall, in Mounce there are about 400 adjectives of three terminations and 230 adjectives of two terminations. (I can't find my copy to verify the numbers).
GlennDean
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by GlennDean »

Brent Kleineibst wrote:which noun does it refer to?
I believe that ωφελιμος is what would be classified as a 2-2 adjective (in Mounce's book the classification is a-3a (2-2)). The first 2 in "2-2" means the masc & fem forms take 2nd declinsion masculine endings, and the second 2 in "2-2" means the neuter takes 2nd declinsion neuter endings.

The noun γραφη (which is nominative singular fem) is the noun that ωφελιμος modifies (and ωφελιμος is nominative singular fem, so it agrees in case-number-gender)
Brent Kleineibst
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Brent Kleineibst »

Thanks for the help.

This information is not found in Mickelson's Strong dictionary, but I now found an LSJ module for "the Word", which includes the different forms of adjectives - exactly what I needed :D Just a pity it's not linked to the Strong numbers :cry:
Louis L Sorenson
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

See Smyth A Greek Grammar http://artflx.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/phil ... Monographs
§288

Adjectives of Two Endings.—Adjectives using the masculine for the feminine are called adjectives of two endings. Most such adjectives are compounds.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: 2 Timothy 3:16

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Brent Kleineibst wrote:Thanks for the help.

This information is not found in Mickelson's Strong dictionary, but I now found an LSJ module for "the Word", which includes the different forms of adjectives - exactly what I needed :D Just a pity it's not linked to the Strong numbers :cry:
Brent, it doesn't need to be linked to Strong's if you learn your Greek properly. The best way to do this is lots of practice, and reading lots of Greek. Have I said this before on this forum? The goal is instant recognition and rapid comprehension. Do everything your instructor tells you, and then do more.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
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