Jason Hare wrote:To bring this back up, a friend sent me a few verses that might be set here for your consideration:1 Peter 1:3
Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς εἰς ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν δι᾽ ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν,
Should we not consider ἐκ νεκρῶν here to be specifically modifying ἀνάστασις? Is this justified only by the fact that ἀνάστασις is seen as an action (and is, by extension, a way of referring to a verb)? Or, is it a prepositional phrase functioning as an adjective?
Though it's superficially possible that ἐκ νεκρῶν could motify the participle ἀναγεννήσας, my sense of the context is that it modifies the noun ἀναστάσεως.
I'm not sure what you mean by "justified" though. Syntactically, prepositional phrases can modify either nouns or verbs, so, yes, either option is "justified." Semantically, the preposition ἐκ has an elative notion, which fits with either ἀναγεννήσας or ἀναστάσεως.
The language "functioning as an adjective" is a bit infelicitous because it is confounding a syntactic category (i.e. part of speech) with a syntactic function. If you mean "as an adjective" in the sense of modifying nouns (or more precisely, modifying the head of a noun phrase), then just skip the analogy and state the function directly: modifying the noun.
Jason Hare wrote:Colossians 1:18
καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας· ὅς ἐστιν ἀρχή, πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων,
Is this also because of the verbal notion of birth?
Similar answer, the PP ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν modifies the noun πρωτότοκος. I don't understand what the relevance of the "verbal notion of birth" and I see this PP as partitive.
Jason Hare wrote:Philippians 1:5
ἐπὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡμέρας ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν
Same question but with three prepositional phrases apparently modifying κοινωνία.
Yes, I think so. No appeal to a "verbal notion" is necessary though.
Jason Hare wrote:Romans 11:15
εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν καταλλαγὴ κόσμου, τίς ἡ πρόσλημψις εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν;
Is ἐκ νεκρῶν not modifying ζωή?
Yes, I think ἐκ νεκρῶν is modifying ζωή.
Jason Hare wrote:What should we make of verses like Luke 11:50-51, where prepositional phrases are used to further elucidate the subject of a verb?Luke 11:50-51
ἵνα ἐκζητηθῇ τὸ αἷμα πάντων τῶν προφητῶν τὸ ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης, ἀπὸ αἵματος Ἅβελ ἕως αἵματος Ζαχαρίου τοῦ ἀπολομένου μεταξὺ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου· ναὶ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐκζητηθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης.
I'm not so sure. I think that ἀπὸ αἵματος Ἅβελ ἕως αἵματος Ζαχαρίου recharacterizes ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης, which themselves modify the participle ἐκκεχυμένον (which itself modifies τὸ αἷμα). But it's a little confusing with the repetition of αἵματος.
Jason Hare wrote:Thanks for any clarification that may come of this. I was hoping to find some examples of prepositional phrases functioning as modifiers of noun phrases without the use of an article.
No problem, but I'm not sure how helpful this was. I feel like these examples are directed to some unexpressed, presupposed theoretical claim, but I don't know what it is, but it seems to have something to do with "having a verbal notion," whose relevance I'm not seeing.
