[B-Greek] TOIOUTOS

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu Jun 18 10:27:32 EDT 2009


On Jun 18, 2009, at 9:11 AM, Charles Johnson wrote:

> I am wrestling with the meaning of the pronoun TOIOUTOS. Louw-Nida  
> gives as
> one definition "like that." The word "like," though, if taken to mean
> "similar to" or "resembling," points also to unlikeness. It can  
> function to
> exclude the first person from the class. If someone said, "I would  
> like to
> marry someone like my sister," we would naturally infer that he means
> someone resembling his sister, but not her. So, the class is PEOPLE
> RESEMBLING SISTER - SISTER.  However, I had been under the  
> impression that
> TOIOUTOS functioned by specifying a class. For example, in Acts  
> 22:22, we
> have AIRE APO THS GHS TOV TOIOUTON, where the primary referent is  
> Paul. So,
> the class would be PEOPLE RESEMBLING PAUL + PAUL. At other times,  
> the class
> can be specified more ideally, such as in John 4:23 -  hO PATHR  
> TOIOUTOUS
> ZHTEI TOUS PROSKUNOUNTOUS AUTON. Here an ideal referent is used, so I
> suppose the class is just PEOPLE WHO WILL WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
>
> So, is there ever a time where TOIOUTOUS is used exclusively, as in  
> the
> sister example?

How about this: Matt. 18:5 καὶ ὃς ἐὰν δέξηται ἓν  
παιδίον τοιοῦτο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί  
μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται. [KAI hOS EAN DEXHTAI hEN PAIDION  
TOIOUTO EPI TWi ONOMATI MOU, EME DECETAI.]

Jesus is probably referring to the innocent, guileless character of  
the child who is the exemplar rather than the birthmark on his left  
cheek, so I would think that here the comparable child would be a  
different child but like this child in the significant respects.

It might help you to look at a whole slew of GNT passages ontaining  
TOIOUTOS; here's the list Accordance yields:
τοιοῦτος [TOIOUTOS]  such, of such kind  (57)
	Matt 9:8; 18:5; 19:14; Mark 4:33; 6:2; 7:13; 9:37; 10:14; 13:19; Luke  
9:9; 18:16; John 4:23; 8:5; 9:16; Acts 16:24; 19:25; 22:22; 26:29; Rom  
1:32; 2:2-3; 16:18; 1 Cor 5:1, 5, 11; 7:15, 28; 11:16; 15:48; 16:16,  
18; 2 Cor 2:6-7; 3:4, 12; 10:11; 11:13; 12:2-3, 5; Gal 5:21, 23; 6:1;  
Eph 5:27; Phil 2:29; 2 Th 3:12; Titus 3:11; Philem 1:9; Heb 7:26; 8:1;  
11:14; 12:3; 13:16; James 4:16; 3 John 1:8


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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