From: Paul S. Dixon (dixonps@juno.com)
Date: Wed Jan 21 1998 - 00:44:27 EST
On Tue, 20 Jan 98 20:32:16 +0100 mjoseph <mjoseph@terminal.cz> writes:
<snip>
>So my question really is, if Martha was serving, and Mary listening
>(as the context surely implies), would (could) Luke have written the
>sentence *without* the relative pronoun? Is that acceptable Greek
grammar?
I see no problem with the grammar. Until one gets to verse 40, however,
there is a possible ambiguity, if the relative pronoun is omitted. The
reading would be something like:and a woman named Martha welcomed Him
into her home, and she had a sister named Mary, and having seated at the
feet of Jesus, she (Mary or Martha?) was listening to His word.
It is only when the reader gets to verse 40 and following that it is
clear that the one sitting a the feet of Jesus was Mary. If so, then it
is very understandable that a scribe would want to clarify this ambiguity
by inserting the relative pronoun [hH].
Paul Dixon
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