Julian

A lot times gender, grammatically speaking, is based on what is pleasing to the ear. In the case of the german maiden, it is worth noting that any words ending in -lein or -chen are always neuter (pay attention, Peter ) so I don't think that it is necessarily applicable here. I suspect that that is a grammatical quirk rather than a cultural issue. All words have a gender, even if they do not intrinsically possess one, however, where pronouns, or words describing people, are concerned, gender becomes important. In most cases where a noun describes a group of mixed gender, the masculine is used.

I can accept that αδελφοι can include women but why not use αδελφοι και αδελφαι, is that an unusual greek construction? Is αδελφοι the proper way of doing it? There seems to be precedents, as listed above.

Either way, I cannot accept the translation beloved, since the idea that a brother is automatically beloved does necessarily do it for me, considering that αγαπητοι is a perfectly good word. It is used in the NT so I see no reason for the beloved translation in some epistles but not in others when αδελφοι is used.

I am trying to discern a little bit about how Paul and culture related to each other as well as deduce the constituent parts of the various congregations which is why I am asking all these questions. I have recently developed an interest in Paul's epistles, it is amazing how much they say and how they change over time.

Julian

Diogenes the Cynic

An -oi kai -ai construction would not be grammatically wrong, just unnecessary and perhaps even a bit clunky in Greek. People would not have automatically thought the masculine plural ending excluded women and it wasn't exactly a politically correct culture in any case. I do think "brothers and sisters" is probably a fair translation into English, though.

"Beloved," on the other hand, is definitely specious and probably represents a modern attempt to render a translation which is gender free as well as avoiding any implication that the word refers only to blood siblings.