"γυναῖκας" in 1 Cor 7:29

[Gustav Berloty]

Hello,

I encountered this plural form "γυναῖκας" in 1 Cor 7:29.

"Τοῦτο δέ φημι, ἀδελφοί, ὁ καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος· τὸ λοιπόν ἐστιν ἵνα καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας ὡς μὴ ἔχοντες ὦσιν,", 1 Cor 7:29.

I had a discusion with someone in a language that is different than English (and this language is both to him and me our native language), and during our conversation I told him about this plural as meaning that Paul is referring to people having multiple wives.
However, the guy I was chatting with said to me that in his opinion this passage could, in our language (and so also, he thinks, in biblical greek), gramatically mean that Paul actually didn't want to mean people having multiple wives but several people having one wife.

So because several (if not most ?) of you are expert in greek (in contrast to me I think), could you tell us what the greek means with this "οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας" ?

Thanks,
Gustav.

[Jason Hare]

I would never have thought that this meant multiple wives. οἱ ἔχοντες is plural, so γυναῖκας is plural. They didn’t all share a single wife (οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκα)! It simply means “married men.”

[Jean Putmans]

I think the meaning here is “each having one woman” = “the married men”, compare acts 28:9: οι εχοντες αστενειας : the ones, having diseases, doesn’t necessarily mean each having multiple diseases, or all have the same diseases, but “simply” each having some disease. So also in Rev 8:6 and 15:6 each Angel has just one trumpet. Rev 18:19 all those who have ships : all, who have one or more ships …

[Jason Hare]

My Attic reading group is working through Lucian’s The Ass, and we just had a relevant construction in our reading today (§16):

ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἦν ἤδη νὺξ βαθεῖα καὶ σιωπὴ πολλὴ καὶ ὕπνος ὁ γλυκύς, ψοφεῖ μὲν ἔξωθεν ὁ τοῖχος ὡς διορυττόμενος, καὶ διωρύττετό γε, καὶ ὀπὴ ἤδη ἐγεγόνει ἄνθρωπον δέξασθαι δυναμένη, καὶ εὐθὺς ἄνθρωπος ταύτῃ παρῄει καὶ ἄλλος ὁμοίως, καὶ πολλοὶ ἔνδον ἦσαν καὶ πάντες εἶχον ξίφη.

The last phrase is relevant to the discussion. It reads καὶ πάντες εἶχον ξίφη. The word ξίφη is neuter plural of ξίφος. I cannot imagine that the author wants us to think of all of the men who broke in having multiple swords. Each one has his own sword, but the plural is used (“and they all had swords”).

[mikeatnip]

I would read οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας as "The wifed-men" or "the womaned-men."

[mikeatnip]

I would read οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας as "The wifed-men" or "the womaned-men."

In thinking about my "translation," I was pondering if this would be worded differently if the context was one where all of the men would have been polygamists? In other words, from a strictly grammatical point of view, could not this construction include the possibility that the men had multiple women? For example, it could be seen as "many-womaned-men" or "one-womaned-man." If multiple wives were to be purposely intended, would the Greek wording be different?
I am in no way suggesting that multiple-womened-men is the context, but from a grammatical standpoint, would such an context be worded different? I don't know the answer for sure (although I doubt it): I am asking.

[Jean Putmans]

just grammatically seen, you are probably right:

εχοντες + Acc.Sg.: Acts 2:47 εχοντες χαριν; 1 Pet. 2:12 ε. καλην ; 3:16 ε. αγαθην; 1 Thess 4:13 ε. ελπιδα; 2 Tim 3:15 ε. μορφωσιν; Hebr 12:1 ε. περικειμενον νεφος; Marc 8:14 ενα μονον εχοντες αρτον

εχων + Acc.pl.: Marc 10:22 εχων κτηματα πολλα; Lk 3:11 εχων δυο χιτωνας

εχων ωτα (PL) = Mk 4:9, 11:15 etc
εχων ους (Sg) = Rev 2:7; 2:11; etc.

grammatically all combinations are possible.

So you could say, your explanation of alle possibilties: all men each had multiple wifes, every man had one wife,every man had one wife, all wifes had multiple men … yes, grammatically that is possible.

The understanding and decision of the meaning is in the textual and cultural background, not just in “simple” grammar-rules.