Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a

8: Conjunctions
Digging Deeper into the New Testament
Text
1) Find II Timothy 2:11-13 in your GNT. See if you can spot four
occurrences of a conditional conjunction, and two examples of the causal
(co-ordinate) conjunction, and one example of the negative particle.
2) Now open your Greek Interlinear to II Timothy 2:11-13. Remember that
in Mounce the Interlinear code for conjunctions is cj (for conjunction), and
for particles is pl (for particle). Scan across the parsing line (the third line
of the Interlinear) to check the accuracy of your work above. Did you nd
them all? Now with the help of the English, you can scan through and see
the NIV translation of the conjunctions and particle you have found.
3) In your GNT and Interlinear at II Timothy 2:11 and 12 you see the word
once in each verse. Oddly enough, you will see that Mounce does
not classify this as a conjunction, but as an adverb! Though is used
in the GNT thousands of times as a conjunction, its use in these verses is
different. Look up in BDAG. Do you see that the entry is divided into
two large sections, and that the NIV has apparently chosen the denition(s)
provided at the opening of section 2 to guide its translation at II Timothy
2:11-12? But consider another translation possibility with a slightly
different nuance: Look under 1.b, and try out letters and . How might
your translation sound, if guided by these options?
6) In your GNT and Interlinear in Romans 6:1-11 you see the conjunction
used repeatedly. As you can imagine, this conjunction is heavily
used in Paul’s argumentative and explanatory passages. Look up this
conjunction in BDAG, and write down the three large headings into which
the senses of are arranged. How do these senses differ?
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7) Go in Wallace’s Intermediate Grammar The Basics of NT Syntax to pages
286-302 [Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, pages 656–678]. Simply leaf
through these pages for now. There is no need to understand everything
you see. [If you have a chance at a later point in your academic studies
to venture into Advanced Greek, you will be exploring (among other
things) the subtle but important insights that come when Greek clauses are
mastered.] You may notice a great deal of overlap in terminology (with
what we have learned in this chapter), but that Wallace’s arrangement and
presentation are considerably different. In your later work in exegesis,
some of Wallace’s more detailed treatments may be of use to you.
4) Find Romans 6:1-11 in your GNT. See if you can spot about eighteen
occurrences of conjunctions we have looked at, both of the negative
particles, and one example of the “μ… construction”. [To keep
track, write down the Greek word in question, along with the verse number
in which it occurs.]
5) Now open your Greek Interlinear to Romans 6:1-11. Scan across the
parsing line (the third line of the Interlinear) to check the accuracy of your
work above. Did you nd them all? Now with the help of the English,
you can scan through and see the NIV translation of the conjunctions and
the particle you have found. Of course you are not expected to “read the
Greek” of this passage. But you can get a taste of real Greek, and can
begin to see important features of the text even at this early stage in your
learning.