Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

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Peter Streitenberger
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Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Dear Friends of Greek,

in John 16,13 it reads: Ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν·

πνεῦμα is an Apposition to ἐκεῖνος, but why does the Gender (mask. - neuter) not agree ?

Thank you for a clarification !
Yours
Peter, Germany
cwconrad
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Re: Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

Post by cwconrad »

Peter Streitenberger wrote:Dear Friends of Greek,

in John 16,13 it reads: Ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν·

πνεῦμα is an Apposition to ἐκεῖνος, but why does the Gender (mask. - neuter) not agree ?
If you'll look closely at the preceding verses in the context (verses 7-11), you'll note the reference to ὁ παράκλητος is spoken of and referred to thereafter as ἐκεῖνος. It would appear that the noun παράκλητος governs the author's choice of the masculine pronoun.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Peter Streitenberger
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Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:45 am

Re: Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Ok, I understand, Dr. Conrad. What do you think of this explantion: “Sometimes the demonstrative pronoun will agree with the natural gender rather than the grammatical gender. For example, the masculine pronoun EKEINOS is used in John 14,26 and 16,13-14 to refer to the neuter noun PNEUMA to emphasize the personality of the Holy Spirit” ( “Intermediate New Testament Greek”, Richard Young S. 78).
Thank you again for a clarification
Yours
Peter, Germany
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

Post by Stephen Carlson »

In both cited cases, it seems clear that the antecedent to ἐκεῖνος is the masculine ὁ παράκλητος.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Jason Hare
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Re: Gender of EKEINOS in Joh 16,13

Post by Jason Hare »

Peter Streitenberger wrote:Ok, I understand, Dr. Conrad. What do you think of this explantion: “Sometimes the demonstrative pronoun will agree with the natural gender rather than the grammatical gender. For example, the masculine pronoun EKEINOS is used in John 14,26 and 16,13-14 to refer to the neuter noun PNEUMA to emphasize the personality of the Holy Spirit” ( “Intermediate New Testament Greek”, Richard Young S. 78).
Thank you again for a clarification
Yours
Peter, Germany
ἐκεῖνος, as has been aptly explained already in this thread, is NOT referring to πνεῦμα in that verse. I realize that some interpreters want to take this as an instance of constructio ad sensum, but it isn't. It is clearly and definitely referring to the masculine noun παράκλητος in the context.
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
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