Matt. 5:8 μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θε

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Tim Evans
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Joined: July 10th, 2015, 1:40 am

Matt. 5:8 μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θε

Post by Tim Evans »

Hi Guys,

Just doing some greek practice. Is it correct to say τῇ καρδίᾳ is "instrumental dative"? I know instrumental dative gives you "by" instead of "in" which the english translations use. But that seems to be a closer fit than treating it as normal dative (i.e. to/for).
μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ,
ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θε
Matt. 5:8
NASB:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matt 5:8
Jonathan Robie
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Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
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Re: Matt. 5:8 μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θ

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I think this is a dative of respect. An instrumental dative would mean that they are cleansed by their heart, a dative of respect means the ones who are made clean in (with respect to) their hearts. See Funk's grammar, section 892.5:
The dative of respect (or relation) is used to denote the standard or person to which the assertion is limited (cf. the accusative of specification or respect, which is sometimes the virtual equivalent of the dative of respect, §894.6).

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(54)	ἡμεῖς φύσει Ἰουδαῖοι	Gal 2:15
       We who are Jews by nature

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(55)	ἐὰν μὴ περιτιμηθῆτε τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως, ...	Acts 15:1
       Unless you are circumcised according to the
       custom of Moses, ...

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(56)	ἥμην δὲ ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ
       ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Ἰουδαίας	Gal 1:22
       And I was unknown by sight to the churches
       of Judea
Example (56) provides the basis for comparing respect (τῷ προσώπῳ, by face) and relation (ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, to the churches) : The former refers to that with respect to which the assertion holds, the latter denotes the person with respect to whom the assertion holds. Cf. Bl-D §197, Smyth §§1495, 1512, 1516.
Funk addresses a similar example in section 703:
703. Adjective clusters with an attributive dative fall into a number of categories, depending on what the dative specifies. For convenience, noun clusters are also included here (§6990).

703.1 The dative may be a dative of respect (denoting the respect in which the attribution applies):

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(11)  oἱ πτωχοὶ / τῷ πνεύματι	Mt 5:3
      The poor in spirit (i.e., poor with respect to spirit)

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(12)  νεκροὺς [μὲν] / τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ	Rom 6:11
      dead to sin (i.e., dead with respect to sin)
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Tim Evans
Posts: 91
Joined: July 10th, 2015, 1:40 am

Re: Matt. 5:8 μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θ

Post by Tim Evans »

Hi Jonathan, Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I've so far just completed first year greek, so this form of dative is one I am not yet familiar with. Im looking forward to progressing to the next textbook. Thanks!
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