Romans 15:16 ινα clause

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Daniel Watts
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Joined: July 20th, 2013, 6:14 am

Romans 15:16 ινα clause

Post by Daniel Watts »

Hi guys,

Currently working on Rom 15:16 and am trying to work out how the ινα clause works. Heres 15:15-16:

15 τολμηρότερον δὲ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἀπὸ μέρους, ὡς ἐπαναμιμνῄσκων ὑμᾶς, διὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ 16 εἰς τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα γένηται ἡ προσφορὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν εὐπρόσδεκτος, ἡγιασμένη ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.

At the moment, I'm inclined to take 'ἵνα γένηται ἡ προσφορὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν εὐπρόσδεκτος' in relation to ἔγραψα; you could gloss this as "I have written...in order that the prosphora might become acceptable". (forgive my paraphrases but I'm trying to keep unnecessary stuff out of the way)

Alternatively, it could be taken in relation to the participle 'ἱερουργοῦντα'. This could be glossed as something like " the good news of God...in order that the prosphora might become acceptable" The sentence would then be structured "I have written you you...[because I serve] the good news of God in order that the prosphora might become acceptable."

I suppose the primary difference is that in the former case, the ινα clause is providing a direct purpose for the writing of Romans. In the latter, on the other hand, it is more of a general description of the purpose of Paul's ministry as a "priest." Anyone got any thoughts either way?
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Romans 15:16 ινα clause

Post by Andrew Chapman »

I would take it with the whole of τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ - which itself is the purpose (εἰς) for which God gave him grace.

Andrew
Daniel Watts
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Joined: July 20th, 2013, 6:14 am

Re: Romans 15:16 ινα clause

Post by Daniel Watts »

Andrew Chapman wrote:I would take it with the whole of τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ - which itself is the purpose (εἰς) for which God gave him grace.
Thanks Andrew. I didnt think of relating it with the τὸ εἶναί. Just wondering now whether the εἰς really gives, as you are saying, the purpose of God's giving grace to Paul. The participle τὴν δοθεῖσάν is modyfying τὴν χάριν so we end up with a noun phrase following διὰ, something like "the given-to-me-by-God grace". I havent got any grammars close to hand but would it not make more sense to take an eis+infinitve purpose clause as an answer to the main verb (ἔγραψα) rather than an adjectival participle?
Andrew Chapman
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Location: Oxford, England
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Re: Romans 15:16 ινα clause

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Alford says: 'εἰς τό gives the purpose of the grace being given, not of the ἔγραψα'. Meyer: 'Εἰς τὸ εἶναι κ.τ.λ.] Specification of the object aimed at in τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι ὑπὸ τ. Θεοῦ'. I don't think there is any grammatical reason why not, and it seems to make better sense from the point of view of meaning.

Andrew
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