Reexamining "and the justifier" in Rom 3:26
; Acts 17:5 may be similar to Acts 4:19. Cf. also Matt 8:14; 12:44; 20:20; Mark 1:4 (ἐγένετο Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτίζων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ κηρύσσων [although the first participle is articular (though some MSS lack the article) the καί is very difficult to interpret; either the participle is independent and functioning like an imperfect verb or it has the force of ‘even while preaching’]); Mark 5:26 (πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ δαπανήσασα τὰ παρ᾿ αὐτῆς πάντα καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα [possibly ‘suffering many things under many physicians and spending all she had, and not even benefiting anything’]); Luke 1:53; 2:46 (ἀκούοντα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπερωτῶντα αὐτούς [possibly ‘listening to them and even asking them questions’]); 8:35; 11:25; 23:2 (κωλύοντα φόρους Καίσαρι διδόναι καὶ λέγοντα ἑαυτὸν χριστὸν βασιλέα εἶναι [possibly ‘forbidding [us] to pay the tribute tax to Caesar and even claiming himself to be Christ, a king’]); Acts 10:38; 17:3; Rom 2:15; 1 Cor 8:12; 2 Cor 5:6; 2 Cor 6:10 (ὡς μηδὲν ἔχοντες καὶ πάντα κατέχοντες [possibly ‘as having nothing even while having everything’]); 2 Cor 13:2; 2 Tim 3:13 (πλανῶντες καὶ πλανώμενοι [possibly ‘deceiving [others] even while being deceived’]); Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 2:20; 3:6; 2 Pet 3:12 (προσδοκῶντας καὶ σπεύδοντας τὴν παρουσίαν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμέρας [possibly ‘while waiting for and even hastening the coming of the day of God’]); Jude 7 (ἐκπορνεύσασαι καὶ ἀπελθοῦσαι [possibly ‘since they indulged in sexual immorality and even pursued unnatural desire’]); Rev 15:6.Of course, an adjective joined to another adjective by an emphatic or ascensive καί would also be a sufficient parallel. Some take θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος in 2 Tim 3:16 this way, but this is doubtful. But cf. BDAG for other examples. The examples of an ascensive καί between two adjectives in the NT is approximately one twelfth as frequent as a mere connective καί between two adjectives. But this means that such can indeed occur, if the context warrants. The same, of course, is true of virtually any connection made by καί: it can bear an ascensive force if the second element involves a heightened element or occasions surprise. Cf., e.g., 1 Cor 2:10 (τὸ πνεῦμα πάντα ἐραυνᾷ, καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ [‘the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God’]).