John 20:31 was Re: [B-Greek] Phil 2:11

Stephen C. Carlson scarlson at mindspring.com
Wed Oct 15 17:17:41 EDT 2003


Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org> wrote:
>> In Greek, the article is regularly dropped from definite
>> nouns in the predicate, though Koine is a bit more forgiving
>> in retaining them than in Classical Greek.  In John 20:31,
>> the article is dropped from IHSOUS but not from hO CRISTOS,
>> thus IHSOUS would be the predicate noun.  See, e.g., Smyth
>> §§ 1126 ("[The article's] presence is often determined by
>> the need of distinguishing subject from predicate") and 1150
>> ("A predicate noun has no article, and is thus distinguished
>> from the subject."); BDF § 273 ("Predicate nouns as a rule
>> are anarthrous" and "proper names are regularly anarthrous
>> in the predicate").
>>
>> If you want to propose an exception to the general rule,
>> clear counter-examples would be appreciated.
>
>There is more to BDF § 273 than these brief quotes. After the statement you
>quote, § 273 continues: "Nevertheless the article is inserted if the
>predicate noun is presented as something well known or as that which alone
>merits the designation." He then gives the kind of examples like the ones I
>gave where hO CRISTOS is clearly a predicate noun with the article. The
>general rule is that it has the article, even as a predicate, and you are
>suggesting that John 20:31 should be an exception to the rule.

Not at all.  I'm suggesting that hO CRISTOS is subject, so the rule about
whether it gets the article in the predicate is not implicated.

I'd like to know what is your basis, preferably grammatical, for identifying
the anarthrous IHSOUS as the subject instead of the articular hO CRISTOS.
Then, explain why your basis does not apply to John 1:1c KAI QEOS HN hO
LOGOS, in which hO LOGOS is identified as the subject and QEOS as the
predicate noun.

>Examples from
>§273:
>Mt 6:3 OUK hOUTOS ESTIN hO TEKNWN (who is known by this designation)
>Mrk 15:2 SU EI hO BASILEUS TWN IOUDAIWN.
>
>Since Messiah is well known and unique in the sense that only one person
>merits the designation, we can deduce from BDF § 273 that when CRISTOS is
>used as a predicate, it does indeed as a general rule have the article. As
>far as John's Gospel is concerned, the fact is that CRISTOS has the article
>regardless of whether it is subject or predicate. The only two places where
>CHRISTOS occurs without the article are where the text has MESSIAS, followed
>by an explanation that this word means "anointed" (CRISTOS).

Actually, CRISTOS is a predicate noun without the article in John 1:41,
hO ESTIN MEQERMHNEUOMENON CRISTOS.

>The second statement you quote (proper names are regularly anarthrous) is in
>the exceptions part of the citation from Colwell. Just before your quote, he
>says: "definite predicate nouns regularly take the article in sentences in
>which the verb appears."

However, hO CRISTOS is a not a predicate noun in the proposal, and the statement
I quoted, which continues with "in the predicate," explains why IHSOUS is anarthrous
in the proposal.  I don't know what explains the anarthrous subject in your proposal.

Stephen Carlson

--
Stephen C. Carlson, 
mailto:scarlson at mindspring.com 
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words."  Shujing 2.35



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