| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with ho de eipen {ὁ δὲ εἶπεν | ho dé eî-pen}, a narrative formula in which the article ho functions as a pragmatic subject marker, effectively “but He said,” with dé linking this response to the preceding dialogue. The neuter plural article and adjective in tá adynata {τὰ ἀδύνατα | tá a-dý-na-ta} form a substantival phrase, “the impossible things,” which is further qualified by the prepositional phrase para anthropois {παρὰ ἀνθρώποις | pa-rá anth-rō-pois}, where pará with the dative indicates standpoint or sphere, “from the perspective of human beings.” The contrasting clause dynata para to theo {δυνατὰ παρὰ τῷ θεῷ | dy-na-tá pa-rá tôi the-ō} mirrors the structure, now with “possible things” located “with God,” creating a sharp antithesis between human inability and divine capability. The present indicative estin {ἐστιν | es-tin} states this as a general, ongoing reality rather than a one-time event. In translation, the Greek substantival adjectives are rendered as noun phrases (“the things that are impossible,” “are possible”) to preserve the parallelism, and pará is brought into English as “with” and “for” to keep the idea of differing perspectives while sounding natural in context. |