Re: Romans 1:20 apo ktisews kosmou tois poihmasin *nooumena* *kaqoratai*

H. Fred Nofer (docnof@juno.com)
Sat, 01 Mar 1997 18:07:01 EST

On Sat, 01 Mar 1997 10:49:23 -0500 Jonathan Robie
<jwrobie@mindspring.com> writes:
>I'm not sure about the phrase NOOUMMENA KAQORATAI in this verse:
>
>Roma 1:20 (GNT) ta gar aorata autou apo ktisews kosmou tois poihmasin
>nooumena kaqoratai, h te aidios autou dunamis kai qeioths, eis to
>einai
>autous anapologhtous,
>
>I'm reading it this way:
>
>apo ktisews kosmou: ever since the creation of the earth
>tois poihmasin: dative of means - through that which was made
>
>nooumena kaqoratai: this is where my questions are.
>
>What is the subject of NOOUMENA? It is plural, so I assume that TA
>AORATA is
>the subject.
>
>But what, then, is the subject of KAQORATAI, which is
>singular?
>
>This is the only place that KAQORATAI appears in this form in the GNT.
>Can
>it mean something like "it is evident"?
>
>Jonathan
>

Jonathan, I understand your dilemma as the word order would seem somewhat
convoluted and maybe the following observations may be a help: 1)
NOOUMENA is a pres. part. neut. plural, as you surmized, and as a
participle, would not have a subject; and 2) as Mr. Vincent indicated,
neut. plurals may take singular verbs, i.e. the KAQORATAI.

A possible translation might be: "For his invisible things from the
creation of the world, being understood by the things which were made,
are clearly seen." Because of the word order and word choice, the
dramatic contrasts in concepts (the AORATA from A-ORAW, the A privitive
negating that which is seen, with the KATA-ORAW, the KATA strengthening
the seeing.) in the verse are emphasized.

* H. Fred Nofer, Th.D. "XARITI QEOU" *
* Pastor, Faith Bible Church
*
* P. O. Box 33425
*
* Reno, NV 89533 e-mail: docnof@juno.com *