Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 8].
8:9 {Asked} (\ep•r•t•n\). Imperfect of \eper•ta•\ (\epi\ and
\er•ta•\) where Mr 4:10 has \•r•t•n\ (uncompounded imperfect),
both the tense and the use of \epi\ indicate eager and repeated
questions on the part of the disciples, perhaps dimly perceiving
a possible reflection on their own growth. {What this parable
might be} (\tis haut• ei• h• parabol•\). A mistranslation, What
this parable was (or meant). The optative \ei•\ is merely due to
indirect discourse, changing the indicative \estin\ (is) of the
direct question to the optative \ei•\ of the indirect, a change
entirely with the writer or speaker and without any change of
meaning (Robertson, _Grammar_, pp. 1043f.).
8:10 {The mysteries} (\ta must•ria\). See for this word on ¯Mt
13:11; Mr 4:11. Part of the mystery here explained is how so
many people who have the opportunity to enter the kingdom fail to
do so because of manifest unfitness. {That} (\hina\). Here Mr
4:11 also has \hina\ while Mt 13:13 has \hoti\ (because). On
the so-called causal use of \hina\ as here equal to \hoti\ see
discussion on ¯Mt 13:13; Mr 4:11. Plummer sensibly argues that
there is truth both in the causal \hoti\ of Matthew and the final
\hina\ of Mark and Matthew. "But the principle that he who hath
shall receive more, while he who hath not shall be deprived of
what he seemeth to have, explains both the \hina\ and the \hoti\.
Jesus speaks in parables because the multitudes see without
seeing and hear without hearing. But He also speaks in parable
{in order that} they may see without seeing and hear without
hearing." Only for "hearing" Luke has "understand" \suni•sin\,
present subjunctive from a late omega form \suni•\ instead of the
\-mi\ verb \suni•mi\.
8:11 {Is this} (\estin de haut•\). Means this. Jesus now proceeds
to interpret his own parable. {The seed is the word of God} (\ho
sporos estin ho logos tou theou\). The article with both subject
and predicate as here means that they are interchangeable and can
be turned round: The word of God is the seed. The phrase "the
word of God" does not appear in Matthew and only once in Mark
(Mr 7:13) and John (Joh 10:35), but four times in Luke (5:1;
8:11,21; 11:28) and twelve times in Acts. In Mr 4:14 we have
only "the word." In Mr 3:31 we have "the will of God," and in
Mt 12:46 "the will of my Father" where Lu 8:21 has "the word
of God." This seems to show that Luke has the subjective genitive
here and means the word that comes from God.
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/LU8.RWP.html (3 of 12) [28/08/2004 09:05:29 a.m.]