| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The phrase opens with anthropois {ἀνθρώποις | anthrṓ-pois} ‘men’, a dative plural noun that is qualified by the perfect active participle paradedokosi {παραδεδωκόσι | para-de-dō-kó-si} ‘having given over’. The participle functions adjectivally, describing the kind of men in view, and its perfect aspect portrays their decisive action as having lasting significance. The participle takes as its direct object tas psychas {τὰς ψυχὰς | tàs psy-khàs} ‘the lives’, an accusative plural that specifies what has been given over, while the genitive autōn {αὐτῶν | au-tôn} ‘of them’ marks possession, yielding the sense “their lives.” The prepositional phrase hyper tou onomatos {ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος | hypér tou onó-matos} ‘for the name’ expresses action on behalf of or for the sake of someone, here indicating vicarious devotion. This is further defined by the genitive chain tou kuriou hēmōn Iesou Christou {τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ | toû kurí-ou hē-môn Iē-soû Khris-toû}, in which successive genitives (“of the Lord,” “of us,” “of Jesus,” “of Christ”) identify whose name is in view: that of “our Lord Jesus Christ.” In English, the participial construction is naturally rendered as a relative clause (“men who have given over…”) and the hyper phrase is maintained as “for the name” to preserve the theological nuance of sacrificial allegiance to Christ’s person and reputation. |