ἀκροβυστίαν (akrobustian) in Romans 3:30: Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἀκροβυστίαν (akrobustian) in Romans 3:30
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἀκροβυστίαν in Romans 3:30, in the phrase καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν διὰ τῆς πίστεως.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports a reading in which uncircumcision is included with circumcision under God's justifying action, with the contrast serving the sentence rather than controlling it.
How To Communicate It
The grammar can be rendered simply as a coordinated object in the contrast, helping modern readers understand that Paul is addressing both categories together.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case here suggests role in the clause, but it does not by itself settle every syntactic detail.
- Grammatical gender is a language feature and should not be turned into a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a reality or condition, here the state of uncircumcision.
Accusative: the form usually marks a direct object or a closely related object-like role in the clause.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and refers to one category or state, not multiple items.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which is a language feature and does not by itself make a theological or natural gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν
It is coordinated with περιτομὴν under the future verb δικαιώσει, so the accusative helps present it as one of the paired objects or targets in view.
It functions as the second member in the contrast between circumcision and uncircumcision, both standing before the same divine action.
It is not best read as a new subject, and the case alone does not require a special theological category beyond the contrast already expressed by the sentence.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form participates in Paul's paired contrast between circumcision and uncircumcision under one justifying God.
Coordinated accusative object-like category. names the second group in the paired object-like contrast. Attached to the paired contrast with circumcision. Governed by the future verb about justifying. The accusative relation supports the contrast, while the verse's theology rests on one God justifying both groups.
Which group is included in the paired contrast? Uncircumcision is named alongside circumcision as a group before God's justifying action.
Direct: The coordinated accusative directly supports an object-like rendering of uncircumcision in the contrast.
The form identifies the category in the contrast, but the verse decides how that category functions in the argument.
Case alone settles covenant identity theology: The accusative helps identify the clause role, but Romans 3:30 supplies the covenant and justification argument. feminine gender creates a gendered identity claim: The feminine form is grammatical and should not be treated as a gendered claim.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἀκροβυστίαν in Romans 3:30, in the phrase καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν διὰ τῆς πίστεως.
The lemma ἀκροβυστία denotes uncircumcision or, by extension, the uncircumcised condition or people group.
Its accusative form fits the verse's paired structure after δικαιώσει, matching περιτομὴν as the second item in the comparison rather than introducing a separate idea.
Paul's point is that the one God will justify both circumcision and uncircumcision, each in relation to faith, so the grammar supports inclusion within the same divine action.
This aligns with the wider Romans argument that status before God is not limited by Jewish boundary markers but is addressed through faith.
In teaching or translation, the form helps readers hear the verse as a parallel claim about both groups, not as a detached noun with independent emphasis.
Do not derive a hidden doctrine from the feminine gender, and do not make the accusative case carry more meaning than the verse context supports.