Death, Dickens, and the Dative.John Farley
Pastor-Teacher Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Death, Dickens, and the DativeRomans 6:2 is one of the greatest statements of this epistle, and indeed of the entire New Testament. How shall we It is so important that Paul goes on REPEATING this one statement again and again and again. The Greek verb for “died” is ἀποθνήσκω
apothnesko to become wholly alienated from a thing, and freed from all connection with it The aorist tense means “this happened”. We died to sin. “died” is apothnesko. The mood of a verb gives the statement’s relationship to reality. Is it a fact,
The indicative mood is the mood of certainty. Verse 2 is a certain, fundamental fact, and one of the keys to all of Paul’s teaching. This is something that happened when we ceased to be “in Adam” and we began to be “in Christ”. We were BAPTIZED by the Spirit into Christ. We were placed into and identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, session, and Body. Rom 6:2 WE” is a special point of emphasis in verse 2. We –being who we are… If you simply realize WHO YOU ARE, the question from verse 1 becomes completely RIDICULOUS! Then one day this street urchin gets adopted - into the British Royal Family! Don’t you know WHO YOU ARE NOW? You died to that life of stealing and begging. You died to the reign of Fagan. Act like a member of the British Royal Family! Be who you are! We died to sin. Help me understand this. The Greek verb for “died” is ἀποθνήσκω
apothnesko to become wholly alienated from a thing, and freed from all connection with it to be separated from something verb apothnesko appears in verse 2 along with the noun for sin – hamartia - in the dative. The dative case in the Greek is similar to the indirect object in the English. It says “we died to something”. To cease to have vital functions at a transcendent level, in relation to a thing from which one is separated by death, however death may be understood. “dead to the world” |