[wai-ming]

Actually, it was P-Marlowe who asked us to diagram the sentences.

I merely accepted his challenge, and took a stab at it.

English prepositions are extremely confusing to non-native speakers. (e.g. what's the difference between "in," "on," and "at"?) It's not the big words that confuse, it's the little ones.

No direct translation from Greek is needed. I'm still trying to make sense of the English.

Thanks for your pleasantness. I enjoy a good debate, and have sparred with the best of them here on the Religious Forum. It's good to have someone who can deal with my inquisitiveness without becoming defensive. The only way I can learn new things is to continue to ask tough questions. Hope you don't mind.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

i'm not at all bothered by tough questions, that is how one learns. There is a more serious problem than you realise in translating the New Testament from Greek to English. Greek was actually more precise, with clearly defined rules, and not very many exceptions to those rules. English, on the other hand is vulgar, and is subject to quite a bit of misunderstanding. Perhaps you have noticed that Americans are more prone to quarrel than most other peoples (except possibly Australians)? i suspect that a large part of this is the fact that our language is subject to a great many misunderstandings, making it easy to take offense.

i must confess that i never did give much thought to the use of English prepositions, perhaps that is because of the fact that i am a native English speaker, and one rarely questions the structure of one's own language. i am quite acutely aware of the use of prepositons in the Greek, since it is not a native language to me (although i read and write it fluently).