From: Michael Holmes (holmic@bethel.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 17 1999 - 09:40:10 EST
>Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 19:35:15 -0600
>X-PH: V4.4@homer
>To: Biblical Greek <b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
>Subject: Re: transgressions
>Cc: Biblical Greek <b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Reply-To: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
>
>At 8:14 PM -0500 2/16/99, Bart Ehrman wrote:
>> OK, consider me emboldened by Carl Conrad's reply.
>>
>> Does anyone want to explain to me how s/he understands the grammar of 2
>>Clement 2:6: ti oun estin poiesantas epituchein auton, ei me to hosios
>>kai dikaios anastrephesthai?
>
>Here's one effort, at any rate: "By doing what, then, is it for (persons)
>to gain him, if it is not to undergo a conversion in a holy and just
>manner?"
>
>That is to say: I understand TI as object of the ptc POIHSANTAS, and
>POIHSANTAS as agreeing with an accusative subject of EPITUCEIN AUTON. I'm
>assuming also that the last part is what in more common transliteration
>scheme is EI MH TO HOSIWS KAI DIKAIWS ANASTREFESQAI. Perhaps one could
>understand a hHMAS as the acc. pl. pronoun with which POIHSANTAS must
>agree; then we get:
>
>"So by doing what is it that we gain Him, if it isn't turning around in a
>holy and righteous manner?"
>
>Other guesses invited!
>
The text is 2 Clem 5.6, and Carl has basically nailed it (no surprise here).
The preceding sentence ends, "...the coming kingdom and eternal life." Then
we have the focus of the original question:
TI OUN ESTIN POIHSANTAS EPITUCEIN AUTWN, EI MH TO HOSIWS KAI DIKAIWS
ANASTREFESQAI.
The context supplied by 2.7 (EN GAR TW EPIQUMEIN HMAS KTHSASQAI...) confirms
his suggestion that HMAS is the implied subject of POIHSANTAS. The ambiguous
"auton" of the original question is plural, AUTWN, refering back to the
kingdom and life mentioned at the end of the previous sentence. So, taking
the rest as Carl indicates, we have,
"So, by doing what is it that we gain them ...",
which then might become, "What, then, must we do to gain them ..."
Mike Holmes
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