A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Acts 10:37

Acts 10:37 avrxa,menoj {B}

The use of the pendent nominative, avrxa,menoj (î⁷⁴ a A B C D E H 1739 al), which is to be taken in a quasi-adverbial sense, can be paralleled not only in Greek inscriptions and papyri ²⁰¹ but also in Xenophon and Plutarch ²⁰²; one is therefore not compelled to resort, as Torrey does, to an Aramaic idiom in which !mi arEv'm. amounts to not much more than “from.” ²⁰³ In any case, however, the nominativus pendens is sufficiently unusual so that scribes would have attempted to improve the grammar either by altering it to the accusative (î⁴⁵ L P 69 81 most minuscules, followed by the Textus Receptus), or by retaining the nominative and adding ga,r (î⁷⁴ A D it^{e, p} syr^msK Irenaeus^lat) — which is described by Blass-Debrunner as a futile attempt to ameliorate the construction. ²⁰⁴

²⁰¹ See J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, 3rd ed., p. 240, and Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary, s.v.

²⁰² See J. W. Hunkin, “Pleonastic a;rcomai in the New Testament,” Journal of Theological Studies, XXV (1924), pp. 391 ff.

²⁰³ C. C. Torrey, The Composition and Date of Acts, pp. 25 ff. Cf. Max Wilcox, The Semitisms of Acts (Oxford. 1965). p. 150, who finds no reason to regard the expression as an Aramaism.

²⁰⁴ Blass-Debrunner-Funk, § 137, 3.

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A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Acts 10:37

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