κρίμα (krima) in Romans 3:8: Noun Nominative Singular Neuter
κρίμα (krima) in Romans 3:8
Textual Witness
The witness reads κρίμα in Romans 3:8 within the line, ὧν τὸ κρίμα ἔνδικόν ἐστι.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The grammar highlights the judgment as the clause's subject, sharpening the warning that the saying invites a just verdict.
How To Communicate It
In translation and teaching, this form can be rendered plainly as a judgment or verdict, with the surrounding clause showing that it is judged as right.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not turn neuter gender into a theological claim.
- If syntax is uncertain, state the reading conservatively and let the clause control the sense.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a reality of judgment or verdict, here functioning as a concrete idea in the sentence.
Nominative: the form usually marks the subject or a predicate-complement role, and here it fits the clause around the copula.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, presenting one judgment as a unit of thought.
Neuter: the noun belongs to the neuter grammatical class, which describes form only and does not itself make a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
This occurrence of κρίμα is tied to its immediate phrase or clause in Romans 3:8. It presents the thing being said about those people: their judgment is just, so the form supports the clause's assertion rather than carrying it alone.
The noun is part of the clause that identifies whose judgment is being described, and the adjective and verb frame it as the subject of the statement.
It presents the thing being said about those people: their judgment is just, so the form supports the clause's assertion rather than carrying it alone.
It does not identify the judged group by itself, and the noun's neuter gender should not be turned into a separate theological claim.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The nominative noun names the judgment being described as just, which is central to the warning at the end of the argument.
Nominative subject with predicate description. names what is being evaluated in the clause. Attached to the clause describing their judgment. Governed by the predicate statement that calls the judgment just. The form identifies the subject of the verdict statement, while the clause supplies the moral judgment.
What is being described as just in the clause? The judgment is the subject being described, so the warning focuses on the verdict attached to the slanderous claim.
Direct: The nominative form directly supports rendering judgment as the subject of the statement.
The neuter noun names the verdict or judgment as a concept; it should not be made into a gendered or personal claim.
Neuter gender weakens or abstracts the warning: Neuter is grammatical gender; the seriousness of the warning comes from the clause and argument.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads κρίμα in Romans 3:8 within the line, ὧν τὸ κρίμα ἔνδικόν ἐστι.
The lemma κρίμα commonly refers to a judgment, verdict, or judicial decision, which fits the verse's courtroom-like language.
The nominative singular form works with the article, adjective, and copula to make the judgment itself the subject being described as just.
The verse says that the judgment belonging to those who say such things is right and deserved, as part of Pauls rejection of immoral reasoning.
This use aligns with the broader biblical pattern of κρίμα language for judicial decision, while the immediate context decides the force here.
For readers, the form helps show that the sentence is not mainly about an action but about a verdict or judgment being assessed.
Do not infer more than the syntax supports, and do not treat nominative case or neuter gender as overriding the verse's rhetorical and ethical context.