| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse consists of two parallel imperative clauses, each headed by the aorist middle imperative aspasasthe {ἀσπάσασθε | aspásasthe} ‘greet’, addressing the Roman believers and assigning them the action of extending greetings. In the first clause, the direct object is Hērōdiona {Ἡρῳδίωνα | Hērōdíōna}, which is further specified by the appositional accusative phrase ton syngenē mou {τὸν συγγενῆ μου | tón syngenḗ mou} ‘my kinsman’, marking Herodion as personally related to Paul. The second clause has a more complex object: tous ek tōn Narkissou {τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου | toús ek tōn Narkíssou} combines the accusative article with the preposition ek plus the genitive, yielding the sense ‘those from the people of Narcissus’, an idiom for members of his household or group. This is then restricted by the participial phrase tous ontas en Kyriō {τοὺς ὄντας ἐν Κυρίῳ | toús óntas en Kyríō}, an accusative substantival participle functioning attributively, so that only those household members who are presently ‘in the Lord’ are greeted. The repeated tous before ontas creates a clear delimiting structure, emphasizing that Paul’s concern is specifically for the believers within that household. In English, the two imperatives are preserved for rhetorical parallelism, while the participial construction is rendered as a relative clause (“who are in the Lord”) to maintain clarity and the restrictive force of the Greek syntax. |