"That is" agreement

To: David John Marotta <H620@dmt03>, "John Tinnin (982-5343)" <jdt2u@Virginia.EDU>, New Testament Greek Mailing List <NT-Greek@Virginia.EDU>, Old Testament Hebrew Mailing List <OT-Hebrew@Virginia.EDU>
Subject: "That is" agreement
From: David John Marotta <djm5g%Virginia.EDU@dmt03.mcc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 07 Oct 92 08:55:26 EST

>DAVID,  WHAT DOYOU MEAN WHEN YOU QUERY WHETHER THE RP "THAT IS"
>IN 3:16 AGREES WITH CHRIST BY ATTRACTION?  ARE YOU REFERRING
>TO A LOGICAL CONNECTION?  I LIKE YOUR INTERPRETATION.

The relative pronoun is (this is by memory, so I don't have my Greek before
me) masculine or neuter, agreeing, either with Christ, via 'attraction'
or with one (my understanding).  The point is, it is *not* feminine,
agreeing with seed, as you would expect under the traditional interpretation.
Most traditional interpreters therefore favor the idea that the relative
pronoun has been 'attracted' to the gender of Christ, which occasionally
does happen.  I prefer my explanation.

You said,

>THIS PASSAGE COULD BE CONSTRUED AS
>A "RAZ PESHER" OR MYSTERY INTERPRETATION.  IN OTHER WORDS,PAUL
>IS SAYING THAT (GENESIS 22:17-18) IS THIS (GALATIANS 3:16,29).

But my arguement is that the Paul is claiming that the original author
of Genesis intended to say that the Gentiles would be blessed through
Abraham by being like him (his seed) having faith in God.  In other words,
Paul is claiming this is not a "mystery interpretation" but the only
correct interpretation.  You could still argue that Paul was mistaken,
but Paul's arguement seems to hinge on his reader seeing the objective
truth of Paul's interpretation from the text in Genesis, not Paul's
revelation from the Spirit.

David John Marotta, Medical Center Computing, Stacey Hall
Univ of Virginia (804) 982-3718 wrk INTERNET: djm5g@virginia.edu
Box 512 Med Cntr (804) 924-5261 msg   BITNET: djm5g@virginia
C'ville VA 22908 (804) 296-7209 fax   IBM US: usuvarg8