[B-Greek] Matthew 1:20 EK PNEUMATOS ESTIN hAGIOU / EK PNEUMATOShAGIOU ESTIN
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Feb 8 11:13:01 EST 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Robie" <jwrobie at mindspring.com>
To: "B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 7. februar 2008 22:30
Subject: [B-Greek] Matthew 1:20 EK PNEUMATOS ESTIN hAGIOU / EK PNEUMATOShAGIOU ESTIN
> Matthew 1:20 τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου
> Matthew 1:20 TO GAR EN AUTH GENNHQEN 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
Two comments related to word order:
First, the common order for PNEUMA hAGION is to have PNEUMA first. In a few cases (especially in the
articular genitive usage) hAGIOS comes first, and this may indicate a relatively higher emphasis on
the concept of holiness. The plural PNEUMATA refer to evil spirits, but the singular PNEUMA in the
context of the NT refers to God's Spirit or occasionally a person's spirit. Since God's PNEUMA is
necessarily holy, the word hAGIOS is not that important for the sake of identifying the reference,
so it tends to follow the noun. It is also most common for an adjective to follow the noun in any
case.
Second, that ESTIN comes before hAGIOU I interpret to indicate that this word is slightly more
prominent than hAGIOU. It has already been noted that split phrases are not that rare in Greek. I
might express what I consider to be the intended emphasis as follows: "For that which was conceived
in her is indeed from the Spirit (the Holy Spirit, of course)."
Iver Larsen
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