[B-Greek] Eph. 2:8-9; nonrestrictive relative clause

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Nov 6 19:49:06 EST 2007


On Nov 6, 2007, at 2:01 PM, Josiah Matthews wrote:

> Greetings!
>
> I have a question within Ephesians 2:8-9.
>
> 8 THi GAR XARITI ESTE SESWiSMENOI DIA PISTEWS: KAI TOUTO OUK EC  
> hUMWN, QEOU TO DWRON 9 OUK EX ERGWN, hINA MH TIS KAUXHSHTAI
>
> I am reading an unpublished paper on these two verses.  The paper  
> claims that TOUTO, a demonstrative pronoun, is being used by Paul  
> as a relative pronoun to refer specifically to PISTEWS, and this  
> within a nonrestrictive relative clause, wherein TOUTO is the  
> predicate nominative of the subject DWRON.  The proposed relative  
> clause is KAI TOUTO OUK EC hUMWN, QEOU TO DWRON.  Justification for  
> this view consists of Ephesians 6:17.  I have found one more person  
> who reached the same conclusion, and, in addition to Eph. 6:17,  
> offered Mark 15:16 as grounds.
>
> My question for the forum then is this.  Is there grammatical  
> justification in KOINE Greek for a demonstrative pronoun (hOUTOS;  
> EKEINOS) to be used as a relative pronoun (hOS)?

Not that I am aware of. I'd say it is far more common for a relative  
pronoun to function as a demonstrative; you mention hOS/hH/hO, but  
more common in that regard, it seems to me, is hOSTIS/hHTIS/hO_TI. Of  
course the relative pronoun was by origin a demonstrative and still  
functions that way in such traditional phrases as hO D' EFH, hOI D'  
ELEGON, … The hO D' ESTI in Mk 15:16 and Eph 6:17 are really  
comparable to the Latin "id est" (our abbreviation "i.e.").

How do they account for the KAI preceding the TOUTO? Are they really  
proposing to English TOUTO as "which thing"? I would think that the  
proposition that the neuter demonstrative TOUTO refers back to  
PISTEWS is a little bit (not much) more plausible than the  
proposition that TOUTO is a demonstrative functioning as a relative  
pronoun.

>  For the sake of time and to avoid repetition, please, peruse the  
> following notes.
>
> Thank you and God bless,
>
> Josiah Matthews
> Castle Rock, CO
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Notes:
>
> 1. I have found that the converse is true when a relative pronoun  
> functions as an "embedded demonstrative" (Wallace, Greek Grammar  
> Beyond the Basics, p. 340).  Wallace gives five examples: Luke  
> 9:36; John 4:18; 7:31; Heb. 5:8; 1 Peter 1:6.
>
> 2. I do not personally agree with the conclusion reached in the  
> paper for the following reasons:
>    -TOUTO is not a relative pronoun (hence the question above).   
> Both examples given (Mark 15:16 and Eph. 6:17) employ relative  
> pronouns, and therefore seem to be irrelevant to Eph. 2:8-9.   
> Although, they are good examples of "constructio ad  
> sensum" (pronouns that do not agree in case, gender and/or number  
> with their referent).
>    -DWRON is too far away from the pronoun TOUTO to be its  
> referent.  (Although I have read that the referents of  
> demonstrative pronouns can be situated syntactically at a distance  
> from the pronoun; whereas, the referents of relative pronouns need  
> to be situated near the pronoun.  This may not be accurate, as I'm  
> just a beginner.)
>    -The proposed relative clause actually contains too many words  
> to make any sense as a single sentence.  I.e., "And the gift of God  
> is not from yourselves this."
>    -Also, the verb EIMI is lacking in the phrase to support a  
> relationship between the subject (DWRON) and predicate nominative  
> (TOUTO).
>
> 3. I am aware of the number of times that the referent of TOUTO in  
> Eph. 2:8 has been discussed on this helpful B-Greek forum (10/96;  
> 01/98; 7/00; 06/05).  I have personally reached the conclusion that  
> TOUTO refers resumptively to the preceding phrase (THi GAR XARITI  
> ESTE SESWiSMENOI DIA PISTEWS), and therefore I do not agree that  
> TOUTO refers to PISTEWS alone.
>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)




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