[B-Greek] omision of the definite article
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 19 19:19:55 EST 2008
On Feb 19th Matt wrote:
"Can someone explain to me, or point me in the right direcion,
to a good
explanation of the significance of the omission
of the definite article
before theos in the NT [and especially in respect to John 1:18]?"
Dana and Mountly in A Manual Grammar of the Greek NT argue
that often the article is used before theos when God's IDENTITY
is in view whereas the article is omitted when God's NATURE is
in view. They say you can see this is John 1:1 and Romans 8:1ff.
I have not really systematically checked this out, but it seems to me
this is SOMETIMES true, though trying to distinguish when a writer
refers to God as person versus God as essence seems pretty subjective,
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