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Old 10-28-2009, 09:13 AM
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Default perverse - Phi 2:15

Quote:
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

My dictionary of Greek says this is a verb.
I can see it as a verb in
Act 13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

But in the above verse (Phi 2:15) it seems to used as an adjective.

Can you shed light on the use of this word?

It IS a verb, but you have just run into one of the functions that a verb has in Greek that we have no exact equivalent for in English: the participle. It is sometimes described (and functions as) a verbal adjective. Adjectives add attributes to nouns. In English, those attributes are always substantive (noun based), meaning the adjectives have either concrete or abstract noun forms ("The good man" - "What is good?" "The black dog" - "Black is Hildi's favorite color").

ONE of the functions of participles is the one found in Phillippians, where the participle can be thought of as adding a VERB attribute to the noun (usually an action). So with participles, you can add an "action" attribute to the description of a noun: "The WALKING man"; "The DYING pet"; "The crooked generation HAVING BEEN LED ASTRAY."

So the most accurate translation of that verse is probably something like this:
  • so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults in the midst of a crooked and having been led astray generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world
or
  • so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults in the midst of a crooked and having been corrupted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world
or
  • so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults in the midst of a crooked and having been morally distorted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world
Since this produces very awkward sentences in English (and one of the functions of a translator is to produce READABLE translations), we use "translation formulas" for them, and thus a good translation would probably be something like:
  • so that you may be blameless and innocent, God's children without any faults in the midst of a warped and corrupted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world
The "verb" aspect of the participle is "perfect passive," meaning it has completed aspect (it is a done and finished action) and passive voice (they became corrupted, as opposed to active voice, where they corrupted someone else). The "noun" aspect of the participle is "feminine, singular, genitive." The gender here is primarily because adjectives have to match nouns in gender (and "generation" is a feminine noun). It is singular (must match the number of the noun, and ONE generation is being referenced), and in the genitive case (must match the case of the noun, and "generation" is in the genitive case - "of a generation" - "in the midst OF a generation").

Participles do not indicate "time" (past, present or future).

So the point is that the attribute of "having been morally corrupted" is added to the noun "generation" along side the adjective "crooked, warped, perverted." So two of the key attributes of the generation in question is that their mind is warped and distorted (everything they think and believe is twisted and distorted), and they have become thoroughly and completely morally corrupted (the Greek word literally means "to thoroughly twist throughout")

The use of participles is so common in Greek that virtually every sentence has at least one in it, and many have two, three, four or more.

In addition to acting as verbal adjectives, they can also act as verbal nouns in which they stand in for the noun (which is implied). So if Phillippians had left out the noun "generation," the participle would probably become plural and it would read: "in the midst of the warped and morally corrupted ones" - constructions like this are VERY common in Greek.

Hope this helps.

Grace and peace,

Rhomphaia
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