[B-Greek] Eph 6:17 hO and gender agreement

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sun Feb 4 03:38:04 EST 2007


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>


> Please help me on few questions for Eph 6:17
>
> KAI THN PERIKEFALAIAN TOU SWTHRIOU DEXASQE
> KAI THN MACAIRAN TOU PNEUMATOS
> hO ESTIN hRHMA QEOU
>
> Does hO (neut.) take PNEUMATOS in gender agreement or does it somehow
> take inclusively both 'helmet of the salvation' and 'sword of the
> spirit' without considering gender agreement?
>
> Anything special about the position of the verb DEXASQE being between
> two objects?

In the way you have divided the sentence above I think you have correctly discerned three separate 
clauses:

1) THN PERIKEFALAIAN TOU SWTHRIOU DEXASQE (take the helmet of salvation)
2) KAI THN MACAIRAN TOU PNEUMATOS (DEXASQE) (and take the sword of (the) Spirit)
3) hO ESTIN hRHMA QEOU (which means (the spoken) word of God)

In the second clause, the verb is deleted from the surface structure, because it is easily carried 
over from the previous clause.

hO ESTIN is a fixed phrase like Latin id est (i.e.). It refers back to the previous clause or a 
phrase in it and further explains it. It does not go all the way back into the preceding clause to 
include the helmet of salvation. The neuter is normally used when it explains a phrase or clause (a 
thing or concept). It would be grammatically possible to take it to refer to PNEUMA, but 
pragmatically the Spirit is not easily identified with "word of God".

Let me give a few other examples of the relative pronoun with ESTIN with different forms of the 
nouns:

Mrk 12:42 EBALEN LEPTA DUO, hO ESTIN KODRANTHS (that is)
Mrk 15:16 APHGAGON AUTON ESW THS AULHS, hO ESTIN PRAITWRION (that is)
Mrk 15:42 HN PARASKEUH, hO ESTIN PROSABBATON (that is)
1Co 4:17 EPEMYA hUMIN TIMOQEON, hOS ESTIN MOU TEKNON AGAPHTON (who is)
Gal 3:16 KAI "TWi SPERMATI SOU", hOS ESTIN CRISTOS  (who is)
Eph 5:5 H PLEONEKTHS, hO ESTIN EIDWLOLATRHS (that is)
Col 1:18 AUTOS ESTIN hH KEFALH TOU SWMATOS, THS EKKLHSIAS, hOS ESTIN ARCH (who is)
Col 1:24 hUPER TOU SWMATOS AUTOU, hO ESTIN hH EKKLHSIA (that is)
Col 2:17 hA ESTIN SKIA (which (festivals) are a shadow....)

So, hOS is used if it is a person who is further identified or explained. hO is used when it is a 
more abstract concept or a whole phrase or clause that is further explained. hA is used when several 
things (not people) are referred to as a group.
When hOI is used, the verb will be in plural as in:

Luk 5:10 ...hUIOUS ZEBEDAIOU, hOI HSAN KOINWNOI
Rev 5:6  ECWN KERATA hEPTA KAI OFQALMOUS hEPTA, hOI EISIN TA hEPTA PNEUMATA TOU QEOU (...and seven 
eyes who are the seven spirits of God)

Iver Larsen






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