There may be and probably are studies of this sort of thing; I would only
state a "gut" feeling here that this acc. + inf. construction is more
formal and rhetorical than either an expository indicative or the (more
colloquial?) hINA + subjunctive subordinate substantive clause. If Paul
ever wrote a work that is as much a "treatise" as a real letter, I think it
would be agreed that Romans falls in that category, especially inasmuch as
it's a letter addressed to a congregation he hasn't founded or ever met.
Parts of 1 Corinthians (esp. chaps. 1-4) seem to me to have much of this
same powerful rhetorical presentation where the style pretty clearly rises
to a level above that of ordinary epistolary communication.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/