Re: Definite article question

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Wed Jan 08 1997 - 14:58:58 EST


At 1:55 PM -0600 1/8/97, Eric Weiss wrote:
>I Corinthians 1:18 - hO LOGOS GAR hO TOU STAUROU
>
>Galatians 2:20 - ...EN PISTEI ZW THi TOU hUIOU TOU QEOU
>
>Romans 5:15 - ...KAI hH DWREA EN CHARITI THi TOU hENOS ANQRWPOU
>
>What is the function of the definite article in these phrases?
>
>In I Corinthians 1:18 is it to qualify which LOGOS he means,
>i.e., "for the message - i.e., the [message] of the cross"
>(possibly in contrast to what he had said about LOGOS in 1:17
>"for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,
>not with/by wisdom of a LOGOS..."? That's how I have interpreted
>it, seeing it as a little different than the simple translation
>that omits the hO - "For the message of the cross...."
>
>That's how I also interpreted Galatians 2:20 - "by faith I live -
>(that is) [the] faith in the son of God" - a more sharply defined
>statement than "by faith in the son of God," omitting the
>definite article. The emphasis thus appears to be that he now
>lives by faith (as opposed to law) - and then he explains the
>object (or source) of his faith. Omitting the definite article
>would seem to mean he lives "by faith in the son of God" as a
>single concept.
>
>Romans 5:15, like the Galatians passage with an EN prepositional
>phrase followed by a dative definite article, seems the same:
>"much more the grace of God and the gift by grace - that is, by
>[the grace] of the one man Jesus Christ - abounded to the many."
>This, in preference to "and the gift by the grace of the one man
>Jesus Christ" (NASB) - same meaning, just not as pointed in my
>opinion.
>
>Are my thoughts valid? IS THIS THE "DEICTIC" USE OF THE DEFINITE
>ARTICLE?

I think your understanding of these is right, but the explanation is even
simpler: this is the standard ATTRIBUTIVE use of the article with any
modifier of a noun: hO AGAQOS ANHR = hO ANHR hO AGAQOS; hOI ANQRWPOI hOI
EKEINHS THS POLEWS = hOI EKEINHS THS POLEWS ANQRWPOI. And the sequence can
readily be interrupted by a particle or a prepositional phrase or even
something longer, e.g.: EKEINOI hOI PONHROI, hUMEIS GAR EU OIDATE TINAS
LEGW, hOI hHMAS KATABALONTES ...

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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