[B-Greek] "monon" - I Cor. 15:19

Dave jer2329 at preteristcosmos.com
Tue Mar 27 15:13:48 EST 2007


If MONON "unambiguously" modifies the verb (having hoped), why do most(?)
translations have it modifying one of the nouns (life)?

Thank you,

Dave   :)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Penner [mailto:ken.penner at acadiau.ca] 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 2:57 PM
> To: Dave; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: RE: [B-Greek] "monon" - I Cor. 15:19
> 
> Pace Anthony, MONON does not modify any nominal element, 
> since it does not agree in gender, number, and case with 
> anything else. It unambiguously modifies the verb (having hoped). 
> If in this life in Christ we have only hoped ...
> 
> Ken
> 
> Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Acadia Divinity 
> College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada B4P 2R6.
> (902)585-2213
> http://purl.org/net/kmpenner/
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org 
> > [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Dave
> > Sent: March 27, 2007 4:38 PM
> > To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: [B-Greek] "monon" - I Cor. 15:19
> > 
> > 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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