Study resources for 2 Cor 3
A pdf of the NKJV translation of Ch 3 is provided that uses the clausal outline structure and shows below the NKJV text (1) the Koine Greek manuscript (mss), (2) the lemma (i.e., Gr dictionary form of the word), (3) the English transliteration of the lemma, (4) the root word (which may simply be the lemma itself, or a word from which the lemma is derived), (5) the Morphology Code*, and (6) the Strong’s number:
2 Cor 3 NKJV mss lemma transl root morph strongs
*The morphology code is a tool provided by Logos software that makes available to a non-Greek student the role (job) that the mss word plays in the verse.
Highlighted in blue boxes in the above pdf at the link are the many Dative Case phrases and one of the Genitive phrases.
Genitive Case
This is the simple case corresponding to possession or ownership. So the phrase “Word of God” would have “of God” be in the genitive with or without the preposition “of” as the case ending would make it clear it was a genitive. Unlike English, Gr is so heavily inflected (not infected) that the morphology (form) of the word usually designates it’s role (job) in the sentence allowing the word order to be arranged to convey deeper levels of meaning.
Usually the Genitive is simple: the case points to the owner or possessor of something. There is an important alternative genitive, known as an “objective genitive” which is an exception to this ownership rule, but that does not occur in our present context.
Dative Case
The dative case in English, and in certain contexts in Gr, plays the role of the indirect object: John hit the ball to Bill, where “to Bill” is a dative construction because it is not the object of John’s hitting, but the object of what was the direct object, the ball.
In Gr, and perhaps also in English, there are many other uses of the dative case. These other uses can be very helpful in seeking to understand the Bible text at a deeper level. Two of the important other uses of the dative case are: Locative (place) and Instrumental (agency / means).
Locative Dative
As one would expect from the name, this kind of a dative tells us where something exists.
Instrumental Dative
An instrumental dative is the most interesting form (in most contexts) because it tells us something about “how” or the ultimate cause or force by which something is made to happen.
(Greek authorities, if any are reading this, would greatly object to this simplification of this important tool of language, especially in Gr; but even this simplified perspective can be helpful, as we can see in the chapter under study here).
Dative Cases in 2 Cor 3
Consider 2 Cor 3:2 the phrase “in our hearts” which is the dative phrase in a sentence that begins where Paul is telling the Corinthian Elect that “You are our epistle (letter) written….”
So is this example of the dative a simple indirect object, namely has Paul written a metaphorical letter and put it (indirect object) into the metaphorical hearts of the Corinthians? Although one might be quick in rejecting this interpretation because clearly this is not talking about a literal heart, and probably not a literal letter either (rather the teaching / doctrine that Paul has communicated over many months in many ways). But there is a real sense where certain communications can penetrate a hearer in a way that ’embeds’ deeply within them, and become a force of internal reality. Even in secular contexts we’ve all had that experience with painful words that were spoken to us in our past, and one would hope, also and even more so examples of encouraging statements. Questions certainly have that kind of power (when you get to heaven, ask Eve about that).
What about “in our hearts” as a locative dative? Of course this would not be in reference to a literal beating organ pumping blood in a human. But don’t we often think of our innermost being, commonly characterized as our “heart,” not as meaning the blood pumping organ, but where we hold something perhaps secret but dear? In this sense, such a dative would be calling to mind the idea that the heart was a treasure chest holding something / many things precious about the Person and Work of Christ, and the role fo the church in the present age, which is then a kind of portable storage resister, used for thousands of years before smart phones.
Could “in our hearts” be an instrumental or agency type dative? In a certain sense this kind of dative overlaps the previous two distinctive uses, and they all can kind of blur together. But an instrumental dative conveys the idea that there is power / activity that can and does emanate from the object in that dative case. So, here the idea would be that the heart is not just a storehouse but becomes something with a life force, that has a certain power (agency), that can (and perhaps should) do something as here in the Corinthian Epistle where Paul is calling them to see things differently than they are seeing them. (And as the saying goes, one sees by what one is, or holds to be true / real).
The usual temptation is to seek to pigeonhole a dative into one type. So in our present simplified view of three possibilities we have to choose indirect, locative, or instrumental. (Gr scholars sometimes talk of 10 types of datives, but that’s not for everyday folks, and it seems they can easily confuse themselves with distinctions without differences). Let me suggest that it is not necessary to say, or argue, that each dative be distinctly and unchallengeably just one of these three (or of 10) possibilities. We can see at least provisionally hold multiple types in mind as we read the chapter and see how the “in our hearts” can convey something about all three forms of the dative case. Then as we see the text unfold its meaning in sentences and paragraphs that follow we can see how one or perhaps more forms of the dative example initially introduced carries forward a line of reasoning.
But even more so, the power of thinking about dative cases is that it forces one to slow down and chew on the words and phrases where such case occurs and pause to think. We do so little thinking, and are so quick to just keep moving along as though there’s nothing to see here. Seeing the dative, and then asking what’s the job of it here, right here, makes one pause and think, and that is a good thing because for at least a few moments one has shut out the cacophony of the world and moved one’s consciousness into the domain of God’s revealed words.
Identifying Datives in Greek
One way of learning how to identify datives is to study Greek for two or three years and memorize ending inflection forms (morphology). That’s a good thing, and used to be a pretty common track even for just undergraduate levels of college. Yale University at its founding was committed to ensuring that every student graduating could read in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin (then the common language of “the church”). How times have changed. There are many online resources for learning Greek and for a younger person it would be a commendable commitment as one’s whole life could then benefit from a deeper access to God’s word.
For the rest of us, there are the now widely available morphology codes prepared by Greek scholars that do that work for us. At the back of the pdf linked above is a simplified listing of the morphology codes used by the Logos software which was used by Logos in the 2 Cor 3 text.
As a further help, I have added the blue boxes surrounding those words that are datives in the chapter (and also one that is a genitive).