αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

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Gustav Berloty
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Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Hello,

Here are the Mt 28:19-20 greek verses from the WH critical text :

"πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμὶ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος."

I was asking what αὐτοὺς is referencing to ? Because, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη is neuter not masculine as αὐτοὺς is.

My idea is that αὐτοὺς is referencing to the μᾰθηταί (masculine) implicitly made by "μαθητεύσατε". Do you agree with that idea ?

Thanks you all.
Stirling Bartholomew
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Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Gustav Berloty wrote: May 23rd, 2020, 10:04 am Here are the Mt 28:19-20 greek verses from the WH critical text :

"πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμὶ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος."

I was asking what αὐτοὺς is referencing to ? Because, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη is neuter not masculine as αὐτοὺς is.

My idea is that αὐτοὺς is referencing to the μᾰθηταί (masculine) implicitly made by "μαθητεύσατε". Do you agree with that idea ?
I think you have presented one reasonable alternative out of several for understanding what's going on here. In thinking about the implied scenario, I noted that Henry Alford[1] suggests πάντα τὰ ἔθνη refers to everyone including Jews. I think the implied object of the participle βαπτίζοντες might be gender inclusive ἀνθρώπους. This alternative isn't substantially different from your suggestion.

[1] https://biblehub.com/commentaries/alford/matthew/28.htm
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Bruce McKinnon
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Joined: October 21st, 2013, 3:49 pm

Re: αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Bruce McKinnon »

I see no difficulty with αὐτοὺς referring to πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. τὰ ἔθνη is grammatically neuter but in reality refers to people/human beings, hence the use of the masculine αὐτοὺς used substantively.
Gustav Berloty
Posts: 15
Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Re: αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Thanks for your answers!
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

It's a simple constructio ad sensum, since, as Stirling points out, nations consist of ἄνθρωποι, "people." This kind of ad sensum is fairly common in Greek.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Gustav Berloty
Posts: 15
Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Re: αὐτοὺς in Mt 28:19-20.

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Thanks for the information!
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