As a pastor of a small Brethren congregation in rural Missouri, I have really enjoyed this forum. After listening for a month (and greatly appreciating the exchanges), I would like to ask about a phrase that has troubled me since a discussion with a friend. After Paul expresses his great and unceasing sorrow in verse two of Romans 9, he says, "HUCOMHN GAR ANAQEMA EINAI AUTOS EGW APO TOU CRISTOU" Most translations say something like "For I could wish" for HUCOMHN. And so the phrase refers to a current wish of a Christian Paul. But some, like Young's render the verb in such a way (more literally?) that this phrase refers to Saul's pre-Christian thinking: For I was wishing (i.e., when I was not a Christian). Thus Paul is simply making a parenthetical remark to help us understand why he can feel even more sympathy for his kinsmen. Does the grammatical evidence favor one of these ways of understanding his remarks here? Thanks, Mike Wine, Cossville, MO --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu