PAS with/without article

From: perry.stepp@chrysalis.org
Date: Tue Aug 08 1995 - 23:12:35 EDT


In Eph. 3.15: EX hOU PASA PATRIA . . .

I realize that anarthrous PAS is usually partitive, thus the above phrase is
commonly translated "from whom every family . . . ."

But the author seems to contradict this rule in Eph. 2.21: EN hW PASA OIKODOMH,
which is surely to be read "in whom the whole house," not "in whom every
house."

Am I wrong re. Eph. 2.21?

How "hard and fast" was the above stated rule?

Are there any other examples of this apparent solecism in Koine lit., New
Testament or elsewhere?

Could there be a Hebraism or Aramaism that sheds light on the question?

In the light of this antecedent, and since this section of Ephesians is
primarily concerned with describing the unity God has established among those
who were formerly separated, is not the NIV translation of "from whom the whole
family . . . " for EX hOU PASA PATRIA preferable to "from whom every family . .
. "?

Thanks in advance.

Perry L. Stepp, Baylor University



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