From: Carl William Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 09 1998 - 11:38:23 EST
On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Glen Riddle wrote:
> In Eph. 4.12 we have the phrase "be an example of the believers". I
> would take the genitive "of believers" as objective gen. However, to do
> so requires seeing a verbal force in the head noun, typos, which doesn't
> seem to be in the verb. The verb is not used in the sense of "be an
> example". Does anyone have a better category for this use of the
> genitive? Or, can anyone enlighten me on whether this should be a
> problem--seeing typos as a verbal noun but with a different semantic
> verbal force than one would find in the verb?
At first I thought you must mean KATARTISMON TWN hAGIWN in Eph 4:12, but
after a bit of effort, I realized that you're referring NOT to Eph 4:12
but to 1 Tim 4:12: ALLA TUPOS GINOU TWN PISTWN EN LOGWi, EN ANASTROFHi, EN
AGAPHi, EN PISTEI, EN hAGNEIAi.
I really don't think an objective genitive is called for here but ordinary
Pertinentive ("Possessive"). It's not "example of the believers" but
"example of the faithful", so not really even "for believers." TUPOS is a
metaphor from coining, referring originally to the dye-stamp used to
strike images on coins; so we don't even need a verbal noun here; rather,
the writer is urging his addressee to a model of what faithful persons
are. Of course, the purpose is certainly to enable others to take on
themselves that same dye-stamp or paradigm. But I really don't think an
objective genitive is called for here.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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