Peter Frick, «A Syntactical Note on the Dative tw~| ko&smw| in James 2:5.», Vol. 17 (2004) 99-104
The objective of this brief note is to propose that the dative tw~| ko&smw| in James 2,5 (o9 qeo\j e)cele/cato tou_j ptwxou_j tw~| ko&smw| ) should be read as a dative of means of the causal type (“God chose those who are poor on account/because of this world”). This is a reading that goes against the rendering of the majority of exegetes who interpret this dative to be either one of the following: a dativus commodi, dativus incommodi, a dative of reference or a dativus iudicantis.
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A SYNTACTICAL NOTE ON THE DATIVE
τῷ κόσμῳ IN JAMES 2:5
PETER FRICK
The objective of this brief note is to propose that the dative τῷ κόσμῳ
in James 2,5 (ὠθεὸς á¼Î¾ÎµÎ»á½³Î¾Î±Ï„ο τοὺς πτωχοὺς Ï„á¿· κόσμῳ) should be read
as a dative of means of the causal type (“God chose those who are poor
on account/because of this worldâ€). This is a reading that goes against the
rendering of the majority of exegetes who interpret this dative to be either
one of the following: a dativus commodi, dativus incommodi, a dative of
reference or a dativus iudicantis.
Introduction
The objective of this brief study is to offer a suggestion concerning the
meaning of the dative τῷ κόσμῳ in James 2:5. The Greek of this verse reads
ἀκούσατε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί· οá½Ï‡ ὠθεὸς á¼Î¾ÎµÎ»á½³Î¾Î±Ï„ο τοὺς πτωχοὺς
Ï„á¿· κόσμῳ πλουσίους á¼Î½ πίστει καὶ κληÏονόμους τῆς βασιλείας ἧς
á¼Ï€Î·Î³Î³Îµá½·Î»Î±Ï„ο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αá½Ï„όν; A typical translation of the verse, for
example, is that provided by the NRSV: “Listen, my beloved brothers and
sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and
to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?â€
The question that concerns us is the precise meaning of the dative Ï„á¿·
κόσμῳ. Most translations of the Bible render this dative similar to that
of the NRSV (so also the RSV, NASB, CEV), namely as “in the worldâ€.
The NIV translates the dative as “in the eyes of the worldâ€. The Luther
translation of 1964 translates τῷ κόσμῳ as “auf dieser Welt†and the 1984
revision of the Luther text reads “in dieser Weltâ€. The Spanish version La
Biblia de las Américas speaks of “los pobres ‘de este mundo’†as does the
French version La Bible when it speaks of “les pauvres ‘de ce monde’â€.
Finally, the Vulgate reads: “pauperes ‘in hoc mundo’â€.
I will briefly review some of the usual syntactical interpretations of
the dative and then propose that an equally most plausible reading of Ï„á¿·
κόσμῳ is the standard dative of means of the causal type.
The Dativus Commodi
The above renderings of the dative imply, as do many commentators,
that τῷ κόσμῳ represents a dativus commodi. Davids, for example,
FilologÃa Neotestamentaria - Vol. XVII - 2004, pp. 99-103
Facultad de FilosofÃa y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)
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