[B-Greek] Romans 8:16: SUMMARTUREI TWi PNEUMATI

Brian Abasciano bvabasciano at gmail.com
Tue Jun 10 13:50:21 EDT 2008


I agree with Wallace generally on this question. Is anyone claiming that SUMMARTUREW can only mean "witness with"? I think the important point is that it could mean either "witness with" (associative) or "witenss to" (intensive or indirect object). Cranfield says that "testify to, assure" is a well established meaning of SUMMARTUREW with the dative, and Moo seems to agree with him on that even if he opts for the associative meaning. I do think that BDAG supports this point (though I think it is less clear that they pit intensive vs. associative against one another; it could be that they see the associative as also intensive; still, they support that the word itself can be used non-associatively, leaving its use with the dative as open to meaning "testify to"). Of course it is another matter which option one thinks is best and the reasons for that. As I said, I agree with Wallace on this, but the reasons are exegetical/contextual rather then purely grammatical or lexicographical. In my opinion, the construction could carry either sense, and its specific sense must be determined from context in Rom 8:16.

Perhaps I should add that Moo's discussion of this question comes off as almost on the defensive for the associative meaning. He sees the BDAG references as as solidly establishing the "witness to" meaning in the 1st century, of which the only other 2 NT uses are also ocurrences of, mentions that many scholars view it this way, and then appeals to MM as establishing that the word was still used in the sense of "witness with" in the second century, as if this was in question in light of the evidence. He opts for the associative meaning based on his assessment of the context, but it would be hard to believe that the word can only carry an associative meaning.

God bless,

Brian Abasciano

******

----- Original Message ----
From: Edgar Foster <edgarfoster2003 at yahoo.com>
To: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>; b-greek list <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 2:50:24 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Romans 8:16: SUMMARTUREI TWi PNEUMATI

Dear George,

Wallace is arguing that the SUN prefix strengthens or
intensifies the thought behind the verb without
stressing the "co-witnessing" aspect of SUMMARTUREW.

Wallace's exact words are "In sum, I have found
SUMMARTUREW predominantly to take dative indirect
objects rather than datives of association. BDAG's
statement that 'the prefix SUN? [on this verb] has
in the highest degree the effect of strengthening' the
force of the verb is largely vindicated."

See http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3434 for his
entire treatment of Romans 8:16.

Best regards,
Edgar Foster

--- George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I don't see that BDAG particularly supports Wallace
> in his contention.? It states
> ??????????? [SUMMARTUREW] (Soph., Thu. et
> al.) ?to testify? or ?bear witness with?
> (Plut., Thes. et Romul. 6, 5, Mor. 64c; BGU86, 40
> [II a.d.] al.), then also gener.to provide
> supporting evidence by testifying,confirm, support
> by testimony(as early as Solon24, 3 D.2the prefix
> ???-has in the highest degree the effect of
> strengthening. 
> Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A
> Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other
> early Christian literature. (3rd ed.) (957).
> Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
> Similarly M & M? 
> ??????????? [SUNMARTUREW]
> ?bear witness with? (Rom 2:15al.): cf. ?BGU?
> I. 8641ff(a.d.155), where the signature of each
> attesting witness is accompanied by the words
> ?????????? ??? ??????????.
> For the subst. ?????????cf. ?BGU? II.
> 6006(ii/iii a.d.), and for
> ?????????????see the note to ?PSI?
> VI. 6965(iii/a.d.).
> Moulton, J. H., & Milligan, G. (1930). The
> vocabulary of the Greek Testament. Issued also in
> eight parts, 1914-1929. (610). London: Hodder and
> Stoughton.
> 
>? george
> gfsomsel



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