From: Dale M. Wheeler (dalemw@teleport.com)
Date: Fri Jan 02 1998 - 02:43:43 EST
Paul S. Dixon wrote:
>>Second, they make the claim that there are no undisputed examples of an
>>indefinite anarthrous pre-copulative predicate nominative construction.
>>Here is the quote:
>>
>>Uses of the Anarthrous Pre-Copulative Predicate Nominative Construction:
>>
>>B1) Predicate Nominative is DEFINITE: Matt 27:42; John 1:49; Rom 1:16;
>>1Cor 1:18; Heb 1:10
>>
>>B2) Predicate Nominative is QUALITATIVE: Normally: John 1:14; John 5:10;
>>1John 4:8
>>
>>B3) Predicate Nominative is INDEFINITE: No undisputed examples in the NT
>>
>>
>>Can anybody think of an example to dispute that?
>
>Thanks for bringing this up. No, not the last question so much, to which
>I have no answer, but the first one above (B1). Apparently John 1:49, 1
>Cor 1:18, and Heb 1:10 are regarded by Gramcord as undisputed examples of
>definite anarthrous precopulative predicate nominatives (whew!). I would
>like to dispute each of these.
>
>John 1:49 is disputed simply because the text is uncertain. It is very
>significant that aleph, P66, and the majority of manuscripts have the
>definite article in the text (EI hO BASILEUS).
While its true that there is a textual problem, the text as it stands
now in NA/UBS has no article, and seems pretty clearly to be about as
definite as possible (Par Excellence use of definiteness).
>In 1 Cor 1:18 DUNAMIS is set in contrasting parallelism to MWRIA which is
>certainly qualitative. The LOGOS of the cross to those who are perishing
>is foolishness, but to those who are being saved it is power, power of
>God.
This is an invalid example, since its Apollonius' Canon (I tried to
catch all of those, but I guess I missed this one).
>In Heb 1:10 we have KAI ERGA TWN CEIRWN SOU EISIN hOI OURANOI.
>Is ERGA TWN CEIRWN definite? Are the heavens the complete works of God
>which seems to be implication if the phrase is definite, or are the
>heavens works of His hands? I think all the author is saying is that the
>heavens were made by God, but I don't think he wants to communicate this
>is all God made.
I think you may be pushing the concept of definiteness a bit too hard
here; all definiteness does is point to individual identity (as opposed
to class membership). Saying that ERGA is definite doesn't imply that
that is all there is, just that the heavens are clearly identifiable
works of God. I can't see how ERGA could be qualitative, though I
can certainly see how some might argue (I have a sense this is really an
English argument) that the heavens are "some of the works" (ie., plural
indefinite idea), but I suspect Greek would have written EK TWN ERGWN
for that.
>One of the tests for definiteness for an anarthrous predicate nominative
>seems to be the convertability of the subject and predicate, such as we
>find in the articular subject + copula + articular predicate nominative
>construct. In other words, if the anarthrous predicate nominative is
>definite, then it is being equated to the subject, as in definitions. If
>we cannot reverse them, then the predicate cannot be definite.
Paul, is this something recent you're proposing, or is this something
that goes back to Colwell or Harner ?? I see the logic of what you are
proposing, but its based on the assumption that there is just one kind
of definiteness, and that both nouns must possess that same degree of
definiteness, and thus the are equatible. My sense is that that
presupposition is incorrect, as evidence, for example, by the fact
that there are several different subcategories for the use of the
article with nouns, each having different nuances. This raises the
question of overlap brought up by Wes and Rolf, and I want to interact
with what they said on the topic later, so I'll quit for now...
XAIREIN...
***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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