[b-greek] some questions about Rom 3.27

From: Steven R. Lo Vullo (doulos@chorus.net)
Date: Sun Jan 07 2001 - 23:26:33 EST


Hi all

Rom 3.27: POU~ OUN hH KAUCHSIS; EXEKLEISQH. DIA POIOU NOMOU; TWN ERGWN;
OUCI, ALLA\ DIA NOMOU PISTEWS.

I have several questions about the above sentences that I hope someone can
help me with.

The first has to do with the inferential conjunction OUN. It is normally
used to draw an inference from what precedes. But how would you describe its
usage when it marks a rhetorical question, as above? What is its rhetorical
function in such a case?

Second, I have been diagramming Romans in my (not so) spare time and
customarily compare my results with a set of diagrams I have on Romans that
have been prepared by someone else. (This often helps me to discover
mistakes I've made.) I had diagrammed hH KAUCHSIS as the subject of an
elliptical ESTIN. The diagram I checked it against had hH KAUCHSIS as the
predicate nominative of an elliptical ESTIN. I have studied in the past how
to tell the difference between a subject and predicate nominative when there
are two choices actually present. But what about when there are not two
actual words to choose from? Grammars speak of the "preparatory use of
'there,'" but this seems to be more of a way of expressing the thought in
English than dealing with whether a word is the subject or predicate
nominative in the Greek. When I check grammars and other syntactical aids
they sometimes disagree as to whether a word in this type of case is a
subject or predicate nominative with no clue as to how they arrived at their
decision. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to tell whether a word is
the subject or predicate nominative when you do not have two actual choices
in the text?

Third, the diagram I consulted had POU~ as the subject. I have seen in the
past people propose adverbs or prepositional phrases as a subject or
predicate of a verb rather than a modifier of a verb. Is it technically
correct to take an adverb or prepositional phrase in this way? And how would
one know when to do so? I'm not talking about cases where the adverb or
prepositional phrase are clearly functioning as substantives, as when an
article is attached.

Fourth, how would you describe the function of OUCI? Is it absolute, perhaps
functioning as an interjection, or does it modify an elliptical EXEKLEISQH?
The diagram I consulted had the former; I had the latter.

Many thanks for your help.

Steve Lo Vullo,
Madison, WI



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