[B-Greek] PNEUMA HO THEOS and similar expressions
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Tue Jun 26 12:06:17 EDT 2007
Dear Jonathan and Kramer,
> OK, let me try to dredge my memory, and let the experts correct me or
> fill in.
>
> I think there's two things going on here. When a subject and predicate,
> both nouns, are joined by a form of ESTIN like this, the subject
> normally has the article, the predicate does not.
>
> In Greek, as in English, both the subject and the predicate are
> nominative, so the cases do not distinguish subject from predicate.
> Instead, the article is used to identify the subject: the noun with the
> article is the subject, the noun without the article is the predicate.
>
> I think that's the primary significance of the presence or absence of
> the article in these constructions, but it's also true that the
> predicate noun, in Greek or in English, often comes across as
> qualitative - in your examples, God is not "a love" or "the love", God
> is love. God is not "a light" or "the light", God is light. I remember
> seeing similar examples where a particular person is not "a king" or
> "the king", but simply king.
>
HH: Right, but in English in many contexts, we would say, "He is king
(over us, over the land, etc.)." We could also say in some
circumstances, "He is a king." We would not say, "He is thief." In this
type of sentence "thief" is a count noun, not a qualitative noun, so we
would say, "He is a thief." In John 4:24 it is a matter of
interpretation whether PNEUMA ("Spirit") is to be seen as a count noun
or a qualitative noun. The King James Version took it as a count noun:
King James Version: John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
HH: The modern versions are taking it as a qualitative noun:
New International Version: John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers
must worship in spirit and in truth.”
New Revised Standard Version: God is spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth.”
Holman Christian Standard Bible: God is spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>
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