Romans 5:7 Two uses of Gar

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ronsnider1
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Joined: January 3rd, 2014, 1:58 pm
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Romans 5:7 Two uses of Gar

Post by ronsnider1 »

μόλις γὰρ ὑπὲρ δικαίου τις ἀποθανεῖται· ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τάχα τις καὶ τολμᾷ ἀποθανεῖν·

Does anyone have any insight on the second of the two usages of gar in this verse? Additionally, any understanding about whether the grammar here seems to be positing one person (the righteous man and the good man being parallel), or whether there are two persons in view, the righteous man and the good man.

Thanks in advance,
Ron Snider
Pastor-teacher,
Makarios Bible Church of Sarasota
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Romans 5:7 Two uses of Gar

Post by Stephen Hughes »

If I hadn't read your question and subsequently looked at all English translations of this verse, I would read ὑπὲρ δικαίου as referring to a man, and ὑπὲρ ... τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ as referring to the τὸ ἀγαθόν - something like, "so the world would be a better place".

Compare
Luke 6:5 wrote:Ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ προφέρει τὸ ἀγαθόν,
"that which is good"
δόξα δὲ καὶ τιμὴ καὶ εἰρήνη παντὶ τῷ ἐργαζομένῳ τὸ ἀγαθόν, Ἰουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι·
"who works hard to achieve the ultimately best result"
According to my way of taking the τὸ ἀγαθόν as referring to an idea or cause, the second γὰρ builds on the first, from person to idea.

I think that the relationship between μόλις (γὰρ) and τάχα (γὰρ) is the crux of the construction here - the heightening of dramatic effect (for want of a better word) - which seems to be built up around those two adverbs. The γὰρ's are like the base, and the adverbs are like the toppings.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Romans 5:7 Two uses of Gar

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

ronsnider1 wrote:μόλις γὰρ ὑπὲρ δικαίου τις ἀποθανεῖται· ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τάχα τις καὶ τολμᾷ ἀποθανεῖν·

Does anyone have any insight on the second of the two usages of gar in this verse? Additionally, any understanding about whether the grammar here seems to be positing one person (the righteous man and the good man being parallel), or whether there are two persons in view, the righteous man and the good man.

Thanks in advance,
Narrowly to answer the question, I believe both uses of γάρ are functioning the same (as explanatory) and referring back to 5:6. The two themselves do not, I think necessarily imply two different individuals, although I think the argument may be made otherwise. More broadly, there are long discussions on this in the history of interpretation, as any halfway decent commentary will discuss, and particularly whether or not it should ὸ δικαῖος/ἀγαθός or τό... and if understood as masculine substantives, what material difference there is between the two. I have always taken δικαίου to refer to someone who is inwardly righteous, and ἀγαθοῦ someone who manifests goodness in a visible way, the kind of thing we mean when we say, "she's a really good person..." But again, a good exegetical commentary will discuss the pros and cons of this.
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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