Romans 1:27

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
ronsnider1
Posts: 19
Joined: January 3rd, 2014, 1:58 pm
Contact:

Romans 1:27

Post by ronsnider1 »

The text in view is Romans 1:27.

ὁμοίως τε καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.

My question concerns the relationship of the two participles κατεργαζόμενοι and ἀπολαμβάνοντες, to the main verb ἐξεκαύθησαν. How would you classify the usage of the participles and deal with the temporal relationship between the three verbs?

Regards and thanks in advance,

Ron Snider
Ron Snider
Pastor-teacher,
Makarios Bible Church of Sarasota
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Romans 1:27

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

ronsnider1 wrote:The text in view is Romans 1:27.

ὁμοίως τε καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.

My question concerns the relationship of the two participles κατεργαζόμενοι and ἀπολαμβάνοντες, to the main verb ἐξεκαύθησαν. How would you classify the usage of the participles and deal with the temporal relationship between the three verbs?

Regards and thanks in advance,

Ron Snider
Well, the present participle generally indicates action in some sense concurrent with that of the main verb. I'm not really sure what syntactical category I would assign to these participles. Explanatory or perhaps even resultive -- this action expressed in the verbs is what chartacterizes persons "burning with desire..." and the result of that desire is committing shameful acts and receiving one's due penalty.
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.
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Romans 1:27 (4 verbs)

Post by Stephen Hughes »

It doesn't affect BH's explanation of your question because it has the same time reference as ἐξεκαύθησαν, but actually, there are 4 verbs in this verse.
ἔδει - verb 3rd sg imperf ind act contr impersonal
Romans 1:27 wrote:ὁμοίως τε καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
ronsnider1
Posts: 19
Joined: January 3rd, 2014, 1:58 pm
Contact:

Re: Romans 1:27

Post by ronsnider1 »

Yes, there are four verbs, but only three governed by the nominative subject the males. I am inclined to see a temporal progression (which provides the results) since the verb burned would seem to denote a mental state, and the first participle κατεργαζόμενοι expressing an overt action that proceeds from that state, with the last participle ἀπολαμβάνοντες providing the end result of the of all their activity. One question is the temporal relationship between the two participles, are they concurrent, or sequential? Do they receive back at the same time they work out the shame or is it subsequent to that?

Regards,

Ron Snider
Ron Snider
Pastor-teacher,
Makarios Bible Church of Sarasota
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Romans 1:27

Post by Stephen Carlson »

I don't know if you would find this helpful, but a really technical analysis of Ancient Greek participles and their relation to the main verb is found here in a article by Dag Haug and Corien Bary: http://semprag.org/article/download/sp.4.8/pdf_1 A poster of their views in brief can be found here: http://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/english/rese ... poster.pdf

The participles you point out would be considered "elaborations" and their function is to provide more information about the main verb. They are not intended to interact with the time of the context (just that of the main verb) or to introduce a new event time into the discourse. In Wallace's terms, they would be classified as a circumstance participle of manner or something like that.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Post Reply

Return to “New Testament”