[b-greek] Re: Lk 18:13; TWi hAMARTWLWi

From: Steven Lo Vullo (doulos@merr.com)
Date: Sat Dec 01 2001 - 00:11:22 EST


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On Thursday, November 29, 2001, at 06:50 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> Look at these examples.
> Mt 18:17 EAN DE KAI THS EKKLHSIAS PARAKOUSHi, ESTW SOI hWSPER hO EQNIKOS
> KAI hO TELWNHS. Would you prefer to translate this, "... let him be to
> you
> just as THE Gentile and THE tax-collector" (assuming that some
> particular
> Gentile and some particular Tax-collector is meant).
>
> Lk 10:7 AXIOS hO ERGATHS TOU MISQOU; this is pretty clearly a principle,
> generally so understood as a dominical saying. Do you suppose some
> particular workman is indicated by the article with ERGATHS?
>
> Jn 2:25 KAI OU CREIAN EICEN hINA TIS MARTURHSHi PERI TOU ANQRWPOU; AUTOS
> GAR EGINWSKEN TI HN EN TWi ANQRWPWi. Would you suppose that some
> particular
> human being is referred to by TOU ANQRWPOU and TWi ANQRWPWi? More
> likely, I
> think, ANY person at all, insofar as he's a human being, is referred to.

Carl:

I fully concur with your assessment of the above texts. However, I do
not think they supply a comparable semantic situation to Luke 18.13,
i.e., an articular nominal most probably (IMO) in apposition to a first
person personal pronoun. All the above cases refer to generic, third
party entities, no one person in particular. On the other hand, in Luke
18.13 the tax collector is referring to himself specifically and
personally. And since TWi hAMARTWLWi is in apposition (IMO) to MOI, this
also seems to concretize and personalize TWi hAMARTWLWi, rather than
describe a generic category of which the tax collector is an example.
Two singular substantives in apposition usually refer to the same person
or thing, not the person or thing and the generic class to which the
person or thing belongs. The tax collector is referring to himself in
particular, a specific, identifiable individual. This, I believe,
creates a different situation altogether from that of the other
passages. In addition, since the Pharisee compares himself *favorably*
to the tax collector, it seems in context that, in a wonderful example
of irony, it would not be unusual for Jesus to portray the tax collector
as comparing himself *unfavorably* to the Pharisee ("me, the sinner
[compared to *him*, the righteous man"), though the tax collector went
home justified and the Pharisee (unbeknown to the tax collector) not.
=============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI


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