Jonathan:
An unbelievable blizzard with near hurricane-force winds kept me
from seeing much of anything Monday and Tuesday.
[The third worst snowstorm in Massachusetts history struck us
Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday--it also downed more trees than any
storm ever, left half a million people without power (including us). A
real April Fool trick by Mother Nature (or Zeus, or whoever). We were
surrounded by three feet of heavy wet snow at the least depth, five feet in
our driveway, trees crashed down on my car, just a nightmare. And no power
meant I couldn't even get to B-Greek! I'm out of my house because a
wonderful friend, an economist on the Federal Reserve who teaches here and
at Harvard (you've seen him many times on TV, I'm sure), suddenly showed up
with two strong women athletes, and dug a tunnel to my car, and cut enough
away directly behind it to let me drive out today. He also dug a tunnel
through the snow to our front door, so we could exit there, walk down the
street to our driveway, and get in my car. This person is an absolute
saint, in any sense I know except for being "eaten by a fierce wild beast"
which is required in one quaint hymn.]
This long preface is simply to express surprise that no one pointed
out the obvious in your question:
>>>I was struck by the present participle hUSTEROUNTAI in this verse, and
hope I'm not overinterpreting it:
Roma 3:22 (GNT) DIKAIOSUNH DE QEOU DIA PISTEWS IHSOU CRISTOU EIS PANTAS TOUS
PISTEUONTAS. OU GAR ESTIN DIASTOLH, 23 PANTES GAR hHMARTON KAI hUSTEROUNTAI
THS DOXHS TOU QEOU 24 DIKAIOUMENOI DWREAN TH AUTOU CARITI DIA THS
APOLUTRWSEWS THS EN CRISTW IHSOU:
A present participle presents the action during its course, so I would think
that this verse should be interpreted "for all sinned, and fall short of the
glory of God", not "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God" etc. etc.<<< (end quote from Jonathan
The oddity is this: hUSTEROUNTAI isn't a participle. Dare I call it a
"garden-variety present indicative", 3pl -- (I'll proof this line to be
sure I haven't touched a wrong key).
But you read the meaning aright, gnomes and all.
The REALLY interesting participle here is DIKAIOUMENOI, at the start of
v. 24----what is its subject? Amazing, isn't it? Sounds like Paul really
means what he says in Rom. 5:18; 5:19; 11:32; 1 Cor. 15:22; etc.
Edward Hobbs
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