Help! on the accusative in Luke 5:38

From: Randy LEEDY (Rleedy@bju.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 29 1998 - 16:30:35 EST

Luke 5:38 reads ALLA OINON NEON EIS ASKOUS KAINOUS BLHTEON.

I gather that there is an elliptical ESTIN: "New wine (is) (something
to be) put into new wineskins."

But why is the construction in the accusative? Is the understood form
of EIMI an independent infinitive rather than an indicative?

The only relevant comments I can find are in Robertson: "The
impersonal verbal in -TEON occurs only once in the NT (Lu. 5:38) and
as in the ancient Greek it is used with the accusative.... This verbal
is more usually transitive than the personal form in -TEOS, which is
not found in the NT." (Grammar, 487) The issues of personality and
transitivity get further treatment on p. 1097.

I can to some extent follow Robertson's reasoning, but I'm having
trouble really grasping the nature of this idiom. Robertson says the
meaning of BLHTEON (impersonal) is active rather than passive (p.
1097), but I can't seem to get this into a translation without simply
breaking into paraphrase. "One puts new wine into new wineskins" works
in English, but I no longer have anything remotely adjectival
representing BLHTEON. Is this this nearest English can come, lacking
an active-voice verbal adjective? or is there a parallel English
construction that's escaping me? or can someone perhaps give an
extra-biblical example or two? I'm going to check Smythe when I get
home, so if anyone was inclined to cite him, you can save yourself the
trouble. I'll find any discussion he may have myself.

Thanks.

****************************
In love to God and neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@bju.edu
**************************** 

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