[B-Greek] Repeating and omitting prepositions
Robb Wallace
robbw at calvary-tricities.org
Wed Nov 14 12:47:02 EST 2007
Hello, I had a question concerning the meaning of either omitting or
repeating the same preposition before a series of nouns. Specifically
Colossians 1:2 reads,
CARIS hUMIN KAI EIRHNH APO QEOS PATROS hHMOWN KAI KURIOU IHSOU CRISTOU.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I’ve read that when nouns are considered to be in the same class or category
the writer by rule would not repeat the preposition before each noun, but
when the nouns are in different classes or categories, the preposition would
be repeated before each noun. If true this to me would imply that Paul
viewed God the Father and Jesus as being in the same class of being, i.e.
God.
However, John writes in 2 John 1:3,
ESTAI MEQ hHMON CARIS, ELEOS, EIRHNH PARA QEOU PATROS KAI PARA KUEIOU IHSOU
CRISTOU TOU hUIOU TOU PATROS
Grace, mercy, peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ
But in 2 John 1:12 it reads,
…OUK HBOULHQHN DIA CARTOU KAI MELANOS
…I did not wish to do so with paper and ink
It appears that John applies this rule to paper and ink by not repeating the
preposition DIA before ink, which leaves me puzzled as to why he did repeat
the preposition PARA before Jesus in 2 Jn 1:3 (also META is repeated before
Jesus in 1 Jn 1:3 - our fellowship is with God the Father and with His Son
Jesus Christ). John clearly viewed the Father and Son as being in the same
class of being (Jn 1:1c). So my question is what is the precise grammatical
rule for when to repeat or omit prepositions with consecutive nouns and what
would the meaning of that be in Paul’s salutation in Col 1:2 verses John’s
salutation in 2 Jn 1:3?
Thanks,
Robb Wallace
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