Question
Hi Dennis, this verse is giving me trouble with its predicate nominative, but with a non-link verb. How would you parse it out?
1 Corinthians 15:26 (NA27)
ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος·
Response
The standard predicate nominative is a complement of a finite link verb. However, there is a minority predicate nominative of a non link verb. But that minority construction is often just an appositive of the subject separated by the verb, as in this verse. Often it can be coded as a hyperbaton appositive to the subject, which is how I coded it in Grammatical Commentary:
The last enemy, death, is being destroyed.
Not too hard conceptually. However, the wrinkle is that none of the translations use the obvious translation. They are all dynamic equivalencies, except Jerome; he is literal. The English equivalencies virtually all supply the link verb and make death the normal predicate nominative of a link verb, which it is not in the autograph.
So, I think your real question is: is the regular English predicate nominative dynamic equivalency a valid semantic equivalent of the original Greek appositive. To which I would answer, pretty close. Languages have a lot of latitude to express approximately the same thing. The nuances between the original and the dynamic English idiom are of course debatable. But the translator lemmings are all in lock step. Which is a kinda funny phenomenon in itself.