hUMEIS FUSEI IOUDAIOI
KAI
OUK EX EQNWN hAMARTWLOI
We [are] by-nature Jews
and
[we are] not from-gentiles sinners
I know it seems natural to take "Jews" as being contrasted with "gentiles"
rather than with "sinners," but if Paul was equating being a "gentile" with
being a "sinner" (which I think he was doing here--not that he necessarily
believed that himself anymore, but I think that was a Jewish view at the
time), then the phrase "from-gentiles" contrasts with FUSEI.
"We who are by our birth Jews and who are not, by having been born gentiles,
sinners."
Anyway, it's just a thought.
Eric Weiss
notascholarjusta(post-)secondyearGreekstudent