[B-Greek] Matthew 1:20 EK PNEUMATOS ESTIN hAGIOU / EK PNEUMATOS hAGIOU ESTIN

Tony Pope borikayaama_tekiri at sil.org
Fri Feb 8 08:52:54 EST 2008



On Feb 7, 2008, at 11:30 AM, Jonathan Robie wrote:

> Matthew 1:20 τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ ηθὲν ἐκ
> πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου
> Matthew 1:20 TO GAR EN AUTH HQEN EK PNEUMATOS ESTIN hAGIOU
>
> My poor American brain wants this to read ἐκ
> πνεύματός ἁγίου ἐστιν (EK
> PNEUMATOS hAGIOU ESTIN), rather than ἐκ πνεύματός
> ἐστιν ἁγίου (EK
> PNEUMATOS ESTIN hAGIOU). Is there any significance to the  > difference in
> word order here? Is there any significance to the verb dividing
> πνεύματός ἁγίου (PNEUMATOS hAGIOU)?
>
> Jonathan

Tony:
Split phrases (discontinuous phrases) occur from time to time in the NT, and
they generally indicate "emphasis" or something of that sort. In other words
the phrase EK PNEUMATOS hAGIOU is being brought into focus,
presumably emphasized as unexpected or as a contrast to the implied usual
means by which a child might be born.

Other examples of such phrases in the Synoptic gospels are at: Matt 4.16,
27.15; Mark 10.31; Lk2.25 (already cited by Dr Conrad), 14.19, 15.8, 22.38.


Carl Conrad wrote:
Thu Feb 7 16:41:13 EST 2008
<snip>

(3) In the GNT the combination of PNEUMA and the adjective hAGION in
agreement with it is found both with and without the article. I won't
cite the lengthy article in BDAG but I would urge those interested to
check s.v.PNEUMA :

5. God’s being as controlling influence, with focus on association
with humans, Spirit, spirit ...
alpha. w. the art. τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον TO PNEUMA TO
hAGION
beta. without the art. (s. B-D-F §257, 2; Rob. 761; 795)
πνεῦμα ἅγιον PNEUMA hAGION

(4) I'd also note BDF §257 (2) "TO hAGION PNEUMA sometimes with
article as more or less a person; sometimes without article as a
divine spirit entering into man." And, as BDAG notes, A.T. Robertson
discusses this and says much the same on pp. 761 and 796 of the big
grammar.

Tony:
As regards the distinction made by BDF, whereby the article is thought to
imply reference to a personal being and the anarthrous form rather not, I
would like to draw people's attention to a quite different explanation of
the data given by my colleague Stephen Levinsohn in an article in the Bible
Translator, Vol 44.1, available at

http://rosetta.reltech.org/Ebind/docs/TC/TBT/1993/01/TBT199301.html?seq=40

and following pages. Briefly, Levinsohn argues that the phrase has no
article when it is in focus in the sentence, and the referent is broadly the
same whether there is an article or not. The advantage of Levinsohn's
explanation is, as he points out at the end of his article, that it can be
applied to other nouns as well, e.g. NOMOS etc in Paul, and even to proper
names.

Tony Pope
Bible translation adviser






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