[B-Greek] "monon" - I Cor. 15:19
Dave
jer2329 at preteristcosmos.com
Tue Mar 27 14:38:02 EST 2007
Hello. I'm new to this list. Thank you for having me.
I have a question about the translation of the first part of I Cor. 15:19.
As I understand it, there are four grammatical possibilities as to where to
place the word "monon" (alone/only) in this clause:
1. "If in this LIFE ONLY we have hoped in Christ...." (Monon modifies
"life.")
2. "If in this life we have had ONLY HOPE in Christ...." (Monon modifies
"hope.")
3. "If in this life we have hoped ONLY in CHRIST...." (Monon modifies
"Christ.")
4. "If in this life WE ALONE have hoped in Christ...." (Monon modifies
"alone.")
The translators have precluded options #3 & #4. My question is this: Is
the rejection of those two options purely for _contextual_ and _theological_
reasons? Or are there also _grammatical_ reasons to preclude options #3 &
#4?
In other words, if someone were to walk into a room and blurt out, without
any context, the Greek sentence, "In this life we have hoped in Christ
alone," what would be the grammatically most natural/probable meaning of
that sentence with no context? Are all four of the possible meanings
equally likely from a grammatical standpoint? Or are some of them more
grammatically "awkward" than others? How would you arrange the above four
context-less translations from grammatically least likely to grammatically
most likely?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Dave :)
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