Re: Re. PISTEI VOOUMEN KATHRTISQAI TOUS AIWNAS... Heb. 11:3

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 02 1998 - 07:59:15 EDT


At 12:59 AM -0400 7/02/98, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>I'm not sure how much of this I got right, but I'll send what I came up
>with so the Big Greeks can mop up later.

"Big Greeks," harrumphhh! You're thinking in terms of avoirdupois?

Jonathan has gotten this right, I'd only like to clarify a couple points,
chiefly that the distinctly NT Grammars are not consistent in their
handling of subject-accusative and infinitive (this is one of the few items
that AT Robertson errs about, I think personally): the rule is fairly
simple: when an infinitive is used in a subordinate clause, it's subject is
in the accusative UNLESS that subject is identical with the subject of the
verb in the main clause upon which that infinitve ultimately depends. Not
every instance of this construction is "indirect discourse" or ORATIO
OBLIQUA, but most of them actually are. One can always reformulate the
accusative and infinitive into an English noun clause beginning with "that
..." So here: "By faith (PISTEI) we intuit (NOOUMEN) that (inf. +
subject-acc. construction) the world (TOUS AIWNAS) stands created
(KATHRTISQAI, pf. pass. inf.) by the word of God (hRHMATI QEOU).

>At 12:08 PM 7/1/98 -0400, Paul F. Evans wrote:
>
>> This is a mouthful for a under-achieving Greek student!
>> PISTEI VOOUMEN KATHRTISQAI TOUS AIWNAS hRHMATI QEOU
>
>PISTEI means 'by faith' (dative of means). PISTEI NOOUMEN means 'by faith
>we consider', in the sense of thinking over a matter with care.
>
>KATHRTISQAI is an infinitive, as you note. It is also perfect and passive -
>'have been created by. hRHMATI is another dative of means - hRHMATI QEOU
>means 'by the word of God'. KATHRTISQAI TOUS AIWNAS hRHMATI QEOU means 'the
>universe was established by the word of God'. I think that TOUS AIWNAS is
>meant in Louw & Nida sense 1.4, which is always plural, in contrast to the
>English 'universe':
>
>"Louw & Nida 1.4 (always occurring in the plural): the universe, perhaps
>with some associated meaning of `eon' or `age' in the sense of the
>transitory nature of the universe (but this is doubtful in the contexts of
>#Hebr 1:2 and 11.3)"
>
>So don't let the plural spook you, TOUS AIWNAS just means "the universe",
>as you had already guessed.
>
>>I cannot sort our the use of the infinitive KATHRTISQAI. Is it forming a
>noun >phrase with TOUS AIWNAS? In which case I assume that TOUS AIWNAS is
>the subject >of the infinitive.
>
>Yes, this how I see it as well, as you can tell by my translation above.
>
>> However, how is that to be understood in the larger context
>> with what follows... particularly the infinitive GEGONENAI?
>
>The phrase containing GEGONENAI is: EIS TO MH EK FAINOMENWN TO BLEPOMENON
>GEGONENAI. The construction EIS TO + Verb.Infinitive is the reason that
>GEGONENAI comes out infinitive. In this case it expresses result. TO
>BLEPOMENON means 'that which is seen'.

I would expand this explanation in accordance with what I wrote above--for
clarification's sake. The articular infinitive phrase here is another
instance of infinitive + subject-accusative, and the whole construction can
again be converted into English as a noun clause introduced by "that ...";
since the articular infinitive phrase is object of EIS, it is equivalent to
a acc.+inf. phrase introduced by hWSTE. I'd convert it: "so that that which
is seen has created existence out of things not appearing." I'm probably
overprecise in my conversion of perfect infinitives as statives--it may
well be that KATHRTISQAI and GEGONENAI are more or less equivalent to
aorist passives KATARTISQHNAI and GENNHQHNAI, but until I'm quite satisfied
onthis matter, I'd prefer to translate the perfects with a stative sense
rather than as equivalent to aorists.

>The phrase 'EK FAINOMENWN' is an interesting one - does it mean 'out of
>that which is visible', or 'from appearances'? Is there an implication that
>the material world is less than solid? I'm guessing here with very little
>but a feeling in the gut. Can anybody comment on this phrase?

I think that this is the author of Hebrews using a synonym for the sake of
rhetorical inconcinnity (avoidance of precise antithesis): EK FAINOMENWN
really means the same thing as EK BLEPOMENWN, so that the sense is: "so
that what is seen has its created existence from things that are not
visible."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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