matt 21:25
Paul O. Wendland
wendlanp at wls.wels.net
Tue Jun 25 11:39:18 EDT 2002
>
> my first question to b-greek, surely a softball.
> i was doing my exercises in ward power's book and
> couldn't understand why the definite article before
> john's name is neuter.
>
> Mat 21:25 TO BAPTISMA TO IWANNOU
>
> john umland
>
John:
Notice also that "IWANNOU" is genitive: "of John"
The neuter article points back to BAPTISMA, making the "of John" an
attributive or a modifier of the noun TO BAPTISMA; repeating the article
following the noun it points to is a standard Greek way of attaching a
modifier. In classical Greek this construction may have lent greater
emphasis to the modifier, but in koine Greek it seems to have lost this
force. A Hebrew speaker would naturally have put the adjective in
post-positive position and this may have influenced the feel of such a
construction for him in his use of Greek.
So in an interlinear translation of the phrase might be:
The baptism, the one "of John". . .
And a much better way of doing it (reflecting normal English word order)
would be:
John's baptism
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list