In his Grammar of the Greek N.T. in Light of Historical Research at p. 408, A.T. Robertson speaks of the "representative singular," which occurs when the singular is used with the article to signify the whole class. 1. Would everyone agree that TON EPISKOPON in 1 Tim. 3:2 and Titus 1:7 reflect examples of this? 2. It appears to me that EI TIS has the same effect as in 1 Tim. 3:1, 5:4, 5:8, 5:16, and Titus 1:6. Is this correct? 3. It also appears to me that simply using the plural has the same effect, as with DIAKONOI in 1 Tim. 3:12. Right? 4. Is there any grammatical significance to these different ways of representing a class? In the church I attend some argue that the singlular TON EPISKOPON in 1 Tim. 3:2 and EI TIS in Titus 3:4 require reading the plural TEKNA later in those contexts to mean "two or more" and thus to require overseers to have two or more children. From a strictly grammatical standpoint, is there anything to their position? They acknowledge that the plural TEKNWN in 1 Tim. 3:12 has the sense of "one or more" in light of the plural subject DIAKONOI in that context. For purposes of your answer please assume that the references to TEKNA in 1 Tim. 3:4 and Titus 1:6 requires a bishop to have some offspring, as that is the position of virtually everyone in the church I attend. 5. Assuming that TEKNA in 1 Tim. 3:4 and Titus 1:6 can be read to mean "one or more," is it correct to say that TEKNA is being used in those passages as a "plural of class"? See Winer, A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament (7th ed. by Lunemann), section 27, no. 2, p. 175. Thanks, Dave Runner church of Christ Salem, Oregon --- 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