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Acts 10:37 ἀρξάμενος

Posted: May 8th, 2013, 10:30 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
34 Ἀνοίξας δὲ Πέτρος τὸ στόμα εἶπεν· ἐπʼ ἀληθείας καταλαμβάνομαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν προσωπολήμπτης ὁ θεός, 35 ἀλλʼ ἐν παντὶ ἔθνει ὁ φοβούμενος αὐτὸν καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην δεκτὸς αὐτῷ ἐστιν. 36 τὸν λόγον [ὃν] ἀπέστειλεν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ εὐαγγελιζόμενος εἰρήνην διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὗτός ἐστιν πάντων κύριος, 37 ὑμεῖς οἴδατε τὸ γενόμενον ῥῆμα καθʼ ὅλης τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐκήρυξεν Ἰωάννης, 38 Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέθ, ὡς ἔχρισεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ δυνάμει, ὃς διῆλθεν εὐεργετῶν καὶ ἰώμενος πάντας τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἦν μετʼ αὐτοῦ.

The Byzantine and some others have ἀρξάμενον. ἀρξάμενος in the nominative cannot be adverbial, so it seems. I found nothing on this verse in the archives. Here is what F.J. Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake have to say:
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Lake_Acts1037-119_Page_2.png (95.7 KiB) Viewed 655 times
Any ideas?

Re: Acts 10:37 ἀρξάμενος

Posted: May 10th, 2013, 4:39 pm
by Stephen Carlson
Louis L Sorenson wrote:The Byzantine and some others have ἀρξάμενον. ἀρξάμενος in the nominative cannot be adverbial, so it seems.

Any ideas?
Man, this Greek is rough! It's pretty clear what's meant but the syntax is a little loose.

Just throwing an idea out there, but if ἀρξάμενος isn't adverbial, maybe it's referring to the speaker (Simon Peter)?

Re: Acts 10:37 ἀρξάμενος

Posted: May 10th, 2013, 5:47 pm
by Justin Cofer
Alford notes:
ἀρξάμενος is an unexpected transference of the case and gender into that of the prime agent, a construction common enough in the Apocalypse (4:1 reff.), but surprising in St. Luke. Henry Alford, vol. 2, Alford's Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 119.

Perhaps the rough Greek is due to Luke's source material.