| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The imperative aspasasthe {ἀσπάσασθε | aspásasthe} ‘greet’ opens the sentence as a second person plural command directed to the Roman community, introducing one item in Paul’s series of closing greetings. Its direct object is the proper name Rouphon {Ῥοῦφον | Rhû-phon} ‘Rufus’, further specified by the articular adjective phrase ton eklekton {τὸν ἐκλεκτόν | tón ek-lek-tón} ‘the chosen one’ in attributive position, which marks Rufus with a distinct honor as someone singled out by God. The prepositional phrase en kuriō {ἐν κυρίῳ | en kyríō} functions as a dative of sphere or incorporation, indicating that Rufus’s “chosen” status is defined within the realm of the Lord’s rule and grace, a typical Pauline way of expressing spiritual union. The conjunction kai {καὶ | kaí} then coordinates an additional direct object, tēn mētera autou {τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ | tḕn mētéra autoû} ‘his mother’, with a second kai linking the following genitive emou {ἐμοῦ | emoû} ‘of me’, producing the compact idiom ‘his mother and mine’. This structure places Paul’s relationship to Rufus’s mother on a par with Rufus’s own filial relationship, portraying a shared spiritual family bond. In translation, the formal reconstruction closely follows the Greek sequence and idiom, while the dynamic reconstruction expands the final phrase into “who has also been like a mother to me” to make explicit the affective and relational nuance suggested by the genitive emou. |