Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament: An Essential Reference Resource for Exegesis

ZONDERVAN

Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament

Copyright © 2012 by Murray J. Harris

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ePub Edition April 2017: 978-0-310-53105-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harris, Murray J.

Prepositions and theology in the Greek New Testament / Murray J. Harris.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-310-49392-1 (hardcover)

1. Greek language, Biblical—Prepositions. 2. Bible. N.T.—Language, style. I. Title.

PA849.H37 2011

487ʹ.4—dc23

2011046973

All Scripture translations in the book, unless otherwise noted, are the author’s own, based on the Greek New Testament text or the Septuagint.

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To Bruce and Don,

who both blazed a shining trail

in academic pursuits

for their youngest brother to follow

Contents

Preface

Select Bibliography and Abbreviations

1. Introduction

A. The Phases of the Greek Language

B. Terminology

C. Prepositions and Adverbs

D. Prepositions and Cases

E. The Basic Meaning of Prepositions

F. Principles of Choice

G. Exegeting Prepositions

2. Distinctive Features of Prepositional Usage in New Testament Greek

A. Characteristics in Keeping with the General Tendencies of Hellenistic Greek (in Comparison with Classical Greek)

B. Possible Semitic Influence on New Testament Prepositional Usage

3. Dangers to Be Avoided in Any Examination of New Testament Prepositional Usage

A. Insistence on Classical Greek Distinctions

B. Failure to Make Allowance for a Writer’s Stylistic Variation

C. Disregard of Probable Distinctions

D. Denial of Double Entendre

E. Neglect of the Possible Significance of Items with Prepositions

4. Ἀμφί and Ἀνά

A. Ἀμφί

B. Ἀνά

C. Ἀνά in Compounds

5. Ἀντί

A. Basic Idea and New Testament Use

B. Equivalence

C. Exchange

D. Substitution

E. Important New Testament Uses

F. Ἀντί in Compounds

6. Ἀπό

A. Relation of Ἀπό to Ἐκ

B. Ἀπὸ θεοῦ

C. Ellipses with (Pregnant) Ἀπό

D. Ἀπό in Paul’s Epistolary Salutations

E. Other Notable Instances

F. Ἀπό in Compounds

7. Διά

A. Origin and Basic Idea

B. Notable Instances of Main Uses

C. Διά in Compounds

8. Εἰς

A. Origin and New Testament Use

B. Its Relation to Πρός

C. Its Relation to Ἐν

D. Telic Εἰς

E. Consecutive/Ecbatic Εἰς

F. Causal Εἰς?

G. Significant Phrases Using Εἰς

H. Significant Successive Instances of Εἰς

I. Ambiguity of Meaning

J. Εἰς in Compounds

9. Ἐκ

A. Introduction

B. Basic Signification

C. Range of Figurative Uses

D. Important Constructions Using Ἐκ

E. Other Significant Instances of Ἐκ

F. Ἐκ in Compounds

10. Ἐν

A. Extended New Testament Use and Ultimate Disappearance

B. Versatility

C. Encroachment on Other Prepositions

D. Main Uses

E. Key Phrases

F. Ἐν in Compounds

11. Ἐπί

A. Basic Meaning

B. Versatility

C. Important Constructions Using Ἐπί

D. Other Notable Uses of Ἐπί

E. Ἐπί in Compounds

12. Κατά

A. Basic Meaning

B. Phrases Involving Κατά

C. Κατά Denoting Correspondence or Conformity

D. Κατά Denoting Opposition

E. Distributive Κατά

F. Some Ambiguous Examples

G. Κατά in Compounds

13. Μετά

A. Original Meaning and New Testament Use

B. Μετά with Accusative (after)

C. Μετά with Genitive

D. Εἶναι μετά Denoting Presence With

E. Μετά in Compounds

14. Παρά

A. Basic Sense

B. Transferred Meanings

C. Παρὰ (τῷ) θεῷ

D. Παρά and Christology in the Fourth Gospel

E. Παρά in Compounds

15. Περί

A. Basic and Derived Meanings

B. Περὶ ἁμαρτίας/ἁμαρτιῶν

C. Περί in Compounds

16. Πρό

A. New Testament Use and Basic Meaning

B. Notable Uses

C. Πρό in Compounds

17. Πρός

A. New Testament Use and Basic Meaning

B. Notable Instances

C. Πρός in Compounds

18. Σύν

A. Original Meaning and New Testament Incidence

B. Two Basic Uses

C. Relation to Μετά

D. Σὺν Χριστῷ and Equivalents in Paul

E. Εύν in Compounds

19. Ὑπέρ

A. Original Meaning and New Testament Use

B. Ὑπέρ with the Accusative

C. Ὑπέρ with the Genitive

D. Ὑπέρ and Περί

E. Ὑπέρ meaning in the place of

F. Ὑπέρ as Expressing Both Representation/Advantage and Substitution

G. Ὑπέρ in Compounds

20. Ὑπό

A. Original Meaning and New Testament Use

B. Ὑπό with the Accusative

C. Ὑπό with the Genitive

D. Ὑπὸ νόμον

E. Ὑπό and Other Prepositions Expressing Agency

F. Ὑπό in Compounds

21. Prepositions with Βαπτίζω

A. Ὑπέρ

B. Ὑπό

C. Εἰς

D. Ἐν

E. Ἐν/ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι

22. Prepositions with Πιστεύω and Πίστις

A. Nonprepositional Constructions

B. Prepositional Constructions

C. Concluding Observations

23. Improper Prepositions

A. Nomenclature and Classification

B. Improper Prepositions in Hellenistic Greek

C. An Annotated Alphabetical List of All 42 New Testament Improper Prepositions

24. Notable Uses of Selected Improper Prepositions

A. Ἄνευ—Matthew 10:29

B. Ἐκτός—1 Corinthians 6:18 and 2 Corinthians 12:2

C. Ἔμπροσθεν—John 1:15 (cf. 1:30)

D. Ἐντός—Luke 17:21

E. Ἕως οὗ—Matthew 1:25

F. Χωρίς—Hebrews 9:28

Index of Biblical References

Index of Greek Words and Expressions

Index of Subjects

Preface

The present work is not a comprehensive treatment of prepositions in the Greek New Testament. For that the reader may consult the larger grammars such as BDF or A. T. Robertson, lexicons such as BDAG, or other specialized works such as P. F. Regard’s Contribution à l’étude des prépositions dans la langue du Nouveau Testament. Even less does it seek to relate the New Testament use of prepositions to earlier or later usage in the Greek language, although occasional references are made to Classical Greek and Modern Greek. For an examination of Greek Prepositions from Antiquity to the Present, we now have the recent magisterial work of that title by Pietro Bortone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). Nor does this book purport to be a theology of the prepositions, as if prepositions in themselves can express theology. Rather, this is a study of numerous places in the Greek New Testament where prepositions contribute significantly to the theological meaning of the text. Prepositions in themselves do not carry theological meaning, but the way they are used invests them with theological import. Naturally the choice of examples is somewhat arbitrary and simply reflects the author’s own theological interests and sensitivities.

What is offered here is similar in approach to the author’s earlier work in a lengthy appendix in volume 3 of The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, edited by C. Brown (Exeter: Paternoster/Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978). But the present contribution differs from that earlier treatment in several important ways.

1. All of the 17 New Testament proper prepositions are dealt with.

2. There are many more verses of significance discussed under each of these prepositions.

3. There is a discussion of key repeated phrases that use a particular preposition.

4. All 42 improper prepositions are briefly treated, with a detailed consideration of seven theologically significant occurrences.

5. A classification of the use of prepositions in compound words is included; prepositions in composition often best show their original import (Robertson 574).

6. The layout is more user-friendly and a Greek font is used.

When single verses are discussed seriatim, as in this work, there is the constant danger that the context may be overlooked. But the reader should find that appropriate attention has been given to the immediate literary context and the wider linguistic and theological context of a particular verse. Turner comments that in the Koine all the prepositions become increasingly elastic and their sense has to be determined more often by the context than was earlier the case (261). See, for example, my discussion of πρός in John 1:1 or of ἀντί in Hebrews 12:2.

I have long believed—and taught—that there are four areas of Greek grammar that produce the most handsome dividends when special attention is given to understanding them. These Big Four are the aorist, the genitive case, the article, and prepositions. Of prepositions it has been rightly said, An in-depth knowledge of a language is not attained until one has total mastery of its prepositional system.¹

Basically, a preposition is a word—usually a small word in most languages—that expresses a relationship between other words. In Greek that relationship may be as wide-ranging as purpose or result, cause or basis, concern or benefit, derivation or separation, identification or distinction, instrumentality or agency, correspondence or equivalence, representation or substitution, circumstances or sphere, incorporation or fellowship, priority or posteriority. So the significance of prepositions is immediately apparent. One is reminded of the vivid picture drawn in Jas 3:4 to illustrate the potent influence of the tongue, that ships, though massive in size, are steered by a very small rudder (τὰ πλοῖα τηλικαῦτα ὄντα … μετάγεται ὑπὸ ἐλαχίστου πηδαλίου). The sentence is the πλοῖον, the preposition is often the πηδάλιον. As for prepositional influence on a vastly wider scale, the Danish linguist V. R. Brøndal believes that Greek prepositions were decisive in the development of Western philosophy, which was based on Greek and on the nuances expressed by these prepositions.²

To avoid a volume of inordinate length, I have resisted the temptation to supply references to sources that support the various views mentioned. Where given, documentation is generally within the text and restricted to grammars, lexicons, and English versions. For some readers it may prove refreshing to have so few footnotes! References to BDR are supplied only if this 1976 German revision of Blass’s Grammar differs from the 1961 English revised translation (BDF) or includes additional relevant material.

This volume is offered to the reader in the hope that it may encourage close study of the Greek text of the New Testament, since interpreting the text grammatically—including giving attention to the nuances of prepositions—is the necessary prelude to understanding it theologically.

I am grateful to Dr. Stanley N. Gundry, Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Zondervan, for his ready acceptance of this manuscript for publication, and to Dr. Verlyn D. Verbrugge, Senior Editor-at-Large for Biblical and Theological Resources at Zondervan, for his skill and efficiency in guiding the book through publication.

With warm gratitude I wish to acknowledge three persons who have inspired me in my academic life. First, Jennifer, my wife of fifty years, who has constantly supported and encouraged me, latterly in the midst of her debilitating chronic multiple sclerosis. Then Bruce, my eldest brother, a Rhodes Scholar who studied classics at Balliol College, the University of Oxford, and finally served as Head of the School of History, Philosophy and Politics at Macquarie University in Sydney. And Don, an older brother, the Vinerian Scholar in law at Oxford, cofounder and formerly Director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the University of Oxford, and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College.

To Bruce and Don I dedicate this volume with great pleasure and gratitude.

Notes

1. El conocimiento profundo de una lengua no se consigue en tanto no se tenga un dominio completo del sistema de las preposiciones (M. L. López, Problemas y métodos en el análisis de preposiciones [Madrid: Gredos, 1972], 12, cited by Bortone 238).

2. Praepositionernes Theori—indledning til en rationel Betydningslaere (Copenhagen: B. Lunos, 1940), 92 (cited by Bortone 147 n.67).

Select Bibliography and Abbreviations

1. A * indicates the writer’s own preference when more than one solution is given for a particular exegetical issue and a preference is not expressed.

2. References to BDAG, LSJ, MM, EDNT, GELS, MGM, and BDB are by page number and quadrant on the page, a indicating the upper half and b the lower half of the left-hand column, and c and d the upper and lower halves of the right-hand column.

3. Abbreviations from ancient sources (Classical, Jewish, rabbinic, etc.) are not listed here; they are readily available in the SBL Manual of Style (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999).

AB Anchor Bible

Abbott Abbott, E. A., Johannine Grammar (London: Black, 1906).

Abel F. M. Abel, Grammaire du grec biblique suivie d’un choix de papyrus (Paris: Gabalda, 1927).

Atkinson B. F. C. Atkinson, The Theology of Prepositions (London: Tyndale, 1944).

Bachtin N. Bachtin, Introduction to the Study of Modern Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1935).

Baldwin H. S. Baldwin, Improper Prepositions in the New Testament: Their Classification, Meaning, and Use, and Their Exegetical Significance in Selected Passages (unpublished PhD diss., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1994).

Barclay W. Barclay, The New Testament: A New Translation. Vol. 1. The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles (London: Collins, 1968); Vol. 2. The Letters and the Revelation (London: Collins, 1969).

BDAG A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (rev. and ed. F. W. Danker; Chicago/London: University of Chicago, 2000), based on W. Bauer’s Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (6th ed.) and on previous English eds. by W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker.

BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1953; corrected 1907 ed.).

BDF F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (trans. and rev. by R. W. Funk; Chicago: University of Chicago, 1961).

BDR F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and F. Rehkopf, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1976).

Bib Biblica

Bortone P. Bortone, Greek Prepositions from Antiquity to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).

BT Bible Translator

Buck C. D. Buck, Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1933).

Burton E. de W. Burton, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek (3rd ed.; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1898).

Buttmann A. Buttmann, A Grammar of the New Testament Greek (Andover: Draper, 1873).

Caragounis C. C. Caragounis, The Development of Greek and the New Testament: Morphology, Syntax, Phonology, and Textual Transmission (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004).

Cassirer H. W. Cassirer, God’s New Covenant: A New Testament Translation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989).

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CEV Contemporary English Version (1995)

cf. confer (Latin), compare

C-K Computer-Konkordanz zum Novum Testamentum Graece (based on Nestle-Aland²⁶ and UBS³; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980).

Conybeare and Stock F. C. Conybeare and St. G. Stock, Grammar of Septuagint Greek (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1905; repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995).

Deissmann G. A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (2nd. ed.; New York: Doran/London: Hodder, 1927).

Deissmann, Studies G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1903).

DELG P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, 4 vols. (Paris: Klincksieck, 1968–1980).

DJG Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (ed. J. B. Green, S. McKnight, and I. H. Marshall; Leicester/Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992).

DLNT Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments (ed. R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids; Leicester/Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997).

DM H. E. Dana and J. R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (New York: Macmillan, 1955).

DNTB Dictionary of New Testament Background (ed. C. A. Evans and S. E. Porter; Leicester/Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000).

DPL Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (ed. G. F. Hawthorne, R. P. Martin, and D. G. Reid; Leicester/Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993).

EDNT Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols. (ed. H. Balz and G. Schneider; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990–1993).

EQ Evangelical Quarterly

ESV English Standard Version (2001)

EVV English versions of the Bible

ExpT Expository Times

GELS A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (eds. J. Lust, E. Eynikel, and K. Hauspie, Part I, with the collaboration of G. Chamberlain; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1992); Part II (1996).

GNB Good News Bible (1976)

Goodspeed E. J. Goodspeed, The New Testament: An American Translation (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1923).

Goodwin W. W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar (London: Macmillan, 1955).

Harris M. J. Harris, Jesus As God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992/Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008).

Hatzidakis G. N. Hatzidakis, Einleitung in die neugriechische Grammatik (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1892; repr., Hildesheim/New York: Olms, 1977).

HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible (1999, 2009).

HR E. Hatch and H. A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books), 2 vols. (Graz: Akademische Druck– u. Verlagsanstalt, repr. 1975).

ICC International Critical Commentary

Jannaris A. N. Jannaris, An Historical Greek Grammar (Chiefly of the Attic Dialect) as Written and Spoken from Classical Antiquity down to the Present Time (London: Macmillan, 1897).

JB Jerusalem Bible (1976)

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

Johannessohn M. Johannessohn, Der Gebrauch der Präpositionen in der Septuaginta (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1926).

KG R. Kühner, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, Vol. 2, Parts 1 and 2 (3rd ed. by B. Gerth; Hannover and Leipzig: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1898–1904).

KJV King James Version (= Authorised Version) (1611)

κτλ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά, and the rest

Lampe G. W H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961).

LN J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. Vol. 1. Introduction and Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1988).

LSJ H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed.; rev. H. S. Jones et al.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1940). Supplement (ed. E. A. Barber et al.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1968).

LXX Septuagint (= Greek Old Testament)

McKay K. L. McKay, A New Syntax of the Verb in New Testament Greek: An Aspectual Approach (New York: Lang, 1994).

Mayser E. Mayser, Grammatik der griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolemäerzeit, Vol. 2, Part 2 (1934; repr., Berlin & Leipzig: de Gruyter, 1970).

Metzger B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, based on UBS⁴; original ed. of 1971 based on UBS³).

MGM Moulton and Geden Concordance to the Greek New Testament, 6th ed. (rev. and ed. I. H. Marshall; London/New York: T&T Clark, 2002).

MH J. H. Moulton and W. F. Howard, A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Vol. 2. Accidence and Word-Formation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1919).

MM J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources (1930; repr., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972).

Moffatt J. Moffatt, The Moffatt Translation of the Bible (2nd ed.; London: Hodder, 1935).

Moule C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek (2nd ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959).

Moulton J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Vol. 1. Prolegomena (3rd ed., Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1908).

MT Masoretic Text

Muraoka T. Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Chiefly of the Pentateuch and the Twelve Prophets (Louvain: Peeters, 2002).

NA²⁷ Novum Testamentum Graece (ed. B. Aland, K. Aland, J. Karavidopoulos, C. M. Martini, and B. M. Metzger, 27th rev. ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993).

NAB¹ New American Bible (1970)

NAB² New American Bible: Revised New Testament (1988)

NASB¹ New American Standard Bible (1960)

NASB² New American Standard Bible (1995)

NEB New English Bible (1970)

NET New English Translation Bible (2005)

NewDocs New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (ed. G. H. R. Horsley and S. Llewelyn; North Ryde, NSW, Australia: Macquarie University Press, 1981–). These will be cited by volume.

NIDNTT The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 3 vols. (ed. C. Brown; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975–1978).

NIV¹ New International Version (1983)

NIV² New International Version (2011)

NJB New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

NLT New Living Translation of the Bible (1996)

NovT Novum Testamentum

NRSV New Revised Standard Version (1990)

NT New Testament

NTS New Testament Studies

OT Old Testament

pace (from Latin, peace); (in stating a contrary opinion) with all due respect to (the person named)

Phillips J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English (London: Bles/Collins, 1958).

REB Revised English Bible (1990)

Regard P. F. Regard, Contribution à l’étude des prépositions dans la langue du Nouveau Testament (Paris: Gabalda, 1919).

Robertson A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (4th ed.; Nashville: Broadman, 1934).

Robertson, Pictures A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 6 vols. (Nashville: Broadman, 1930–1933).

Rossberg C. Rossberg, De Praepositionum Graecarum in Chartis Aegyptiis Ptolemaeorum Aetatis Usu (Ienae: Typis G. Nevenhahni, 1909).

RSV Revised Standard Version (1952, 1973)

RV Revised Version (NT 1881)

SB H. L. Strack and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, 4 vols. (Munich: Beck, 1922–1928).

SJT Scottish Journal of Theology

Smyth H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (rev. G. M. Messing; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956).

Sophocles E. A. Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (From B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100) (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1887).

Spicq C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 3 vols. (trans. and ed. J. D. Ernest; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994).

s.v. sub voce (Latin) (under the word)

TCNT Twentieth Century New Testament (1904)

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 10 vols. (ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, trans. G. W. Bromiley; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1974).

Thackeray H. St. J. Thackeray, A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek, Vol. 1. Introduction, Orthography and Accidence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909).

Thumb A. Thumb, Handbook of the Modern Greek Vernacular: Grammar, Texts, Glossary (trans. S. Angus; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1912).

TNIV Today’s New International Version (2001, 2005).

TR Textus Receptus (Received Text).

Turner A Grammar of New Testament Greek, by J. H. Moulton. Vol. 3. Syntax, by N. Turner (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1963).

Turner, Insights N. Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1965).

Turner, Style N. Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, by J. H. Moulton. Vol. 4. Style, by N. Turner (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1976).

TynBul Tyndale Bulletin

UBS/UBS⁴ The Greek New Testament, 4th rev. ed. (ed. B. Aland, K. Aland, J. Karavidopoulos, C. M. Martini, and B. M. Metzger; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/New York: United Bible Societies, 1993). 1st ed. 1966 (= UBS¹), 2nd ed. 1968 (= UBS²), 3rd ed. 1975 (= UBS³).

v.l. varia lectio (variant reading)

Voelz J. W. Voelz, The Language of the New Testament, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase; Berlin) 25/2 (1984): 893–977.

Wallace D. B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).

Webster W. Webster, The Syntax and Synonyms of the Greek Testament (London: Rivingtons, 1864).

Weymouth R. F. Weymouth, The New Testament in Modern Speech (3rd ed.; London: Clarke, 1909).

WH B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek. Vol. 1, Text; Vol. 2, Introduction, Appendix (London: Macmillan, 1881).

Williams C. B. Williams, The New Testament. A Translation in the Language of the People (Chicago: Moody Press, 1937, 1952).

Winer G. B. Winer, A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament (Andover, MA: Draper, 1872).

Zerwick M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek Illustrated by Examples (trans. J. Smith; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1963).

Zerwick, Analysis M. Zerwick, Analysis Philologia Novi Testamenti Graeci (3rd ed.; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1966). (Although translated [see following entry], this original contains material not appearing in the English translation and sometimes differing from it).

ZG M. Zerwick and M. Grosvenor, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament, (5th rev. ed.; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1996).

Chapter 1

Introduction

A. The Phases of the Greek Language

The following stages may be identified:

1. Ancient Greek, a category that here includes both pre-Classical (especially Homer) and Classical Greek.

2. Classical Greek, c. 450 BC–c. 330 BC, chiefly the Attic form.

3. Hellenistic/Koine Greek, c. 330 BC–AD 330, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος (the common language), in its literary and vernacular forms, is marked by a virtual absence of dialectal forms except for local differences in pronunciation, and what Bortone (239 n.3) calls slight regional variations.¹ The six main sources for our knowledge of Hellenistic Greek are: literary texts by writers such as Polybius and Epictetus; the Septuagint; the New Testament and other early Christian literature; the Ptolemaic papyri; the inscriptions; and the observations of grammarians such as Moeris and Phrynichus. The expression Biblical Greek is a convenient and traditional way of referring to the Greek of the LXX and the NT, without suggesting it forms a defined dialect of Hellenistic/Koine Greek.

4. Medieval Greek/Byzantine Greek, AD 330 (the removal of the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople)—1453 (the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks).

5. Modern Greek, AD 1453—the present; but specifically, in the present work, the Greek written or spoken at the present day, contemporary standard Greek (Bortone 238 n.1), in which two strands are interwoven—a popular, vernacular strand (Demotic) and an archaizing or Atticizing purist strand (Katharevousa).

The five stages isolated by Caragounis (in 2004) (XIII; and for more detail XX, 1–63) are (after the Mycenaean or Linear B stage [15th–12th century BC]):

1. Archaic or Epic Greek (800–500 BC)

2. The Classical (Attic) Period (500–300 BC)

3. Post-classical Greek (c. 300 BC–AD 600)

4. Byzantine-Mediaeval Greek (AD 600–1500)

5. The Neohellenic Period (AD 1500–2000)

Neohellenic at present (i.e., the language spoken and written today) is very broad, since it encompasses (simple) Katharevousa, moderate Demoticism and extreme Demoticism (Caragounis 56–57). A more cultivated Demotic is in effect a simple Katharevousa, and conversely, a simple Katharevousa, is a more cultivated Demotic (58).

At an earlier time (1897) Jannaris (xv, xxii) delineated five periods:

1. Attic (500–300 BC)

2. Hellenistic (300–150 BC)

3. Greco-Roman (150 BC–300 AD)

4. Transitional (300–600 AD)

5. Neohellenic (600–1900 AD)

• Byzantine (600–1000 AD)

• Mediaeval (1000–1450 AD)

• Modern (1450–1800 AD)

• Restorative (1800 AD–present)

However we divide up the stages of the Greek language, all agree that greater changes took place during the 600 years separating Polybios from Homeros than during the 2,100 years between Polybios and our time (Caragounis 68). This shows that in the development of Greek time-length and change do not go hand in hand: contrary to what might be expected, greater changes may take place in a briefer period, while a more protracted period may be attended by slower change (Caragounis 89).

B. Terminology

1. Preposition

The term preposition ultimately comes from πρό-θεσις, a placing before, a fore-placement (a term used by the Greek grammarian Dionysius Thrax), via the Latin prae-positio, also meaning a placing before. In Greek grammar it denotes an indeclinable word that is placed before a substantive or pronoun or prefixed to a verb. But originally prepositions followed the substantive (as still done in the NT with ἕνεκεν and χάριν) and therefore were "postpositions"! Etymology apart, a preposition is basically a word that denotes a relationship between other words—hence the German term for preposition, Verhältniswort, word of relationship. In each Greek preposition, it seems, there is an inherent, foundational meaning that is further defined by a particular context.²

2. Proper and Improper Prepositions

Those prepositions (such as ἐν) that can also serve as prefixes in compound words have been called proper prepositions (17 in the NT), and prepositions (such as ἐντός) that cannot be used this way have been called improper prepositions (42 in the NT). This classification is unfortunate, for most improper prepositions are equally "pre-positions and they are functionally equivalent to proper" prepositions. Moreover it seems arbitrary to base a classification on an external relation, that is, a word’s ability to be used as a prefix to another word. Although improper prepositions are in no sense improper with regard to the Greek language, it has become customary (see, e.g., Smyth §§1647, 1699–702) to use this convenient grammatical classification, no doubt partly because improper prepositions usually govern a single case—the genitive. Robertson, however, also uses the expression adverbial prepositions or prepositional adverbs (554, 557, 636–37) to describe improper prepositions. See further ch. 23.

C. Prepositions and Adverbs

In the parent Indo-European language, cases probably stood alone, but later some adverbs came to be used as prepositions. Originally prepositions were locatival adverbs (Bortone xv, 140; cf. Robertson 553–54; 636–37); indeed, in Homer words like περί (round about) and ἀμφί (on both sides) are still used as adverbs. Also at the outset, prepositions were post-positive adverbs; that is, they were placed after the word they qualified, a usage reflected in τίνος ἕνεκα, on account of what = why (Ac 19:32; cf. Lk 4:18). So the term preposition reflects a later development when these adverbs preceded the word they qualified. Certainly, no precise distinction can be drawn between adverbs and prepositions. Words like ἐγγύς and ἔξω are used either as adverbs or as prepositions; and in Hellenistic Greek (including both the NT and the papyri) a preposition and an adverb are often combined (e.g., ἐκ πάλαι and many improper prepositions such as ἐπάνω [Mayser 538–42]), as also in Modern Greek (Thumb §158).

D. Prepositions and Cases

Both in time and at first in order case came before prepositions (Robertson 567). From the point of view of historical development, prepositions did not govern the case of a noun but rather helped to define more precisely the distinctions indicated by the case forms or were added to recapture original meanings; the accusative basically denoted direction (Whither?); the genitive, separation (Whence?); and the dative, location (Where?). That is, cases found in prepositions a convenient means of sharpening their significance. But, in ever-increasing measure, the case ending itself came to be divested of special significance because inflection expressed such diversified relations, and the accompanying preposition, with its fixed case form, assumed part of the meaning of the case and potentially added new meanings.³

So it is somewhat artificial to analyze the case of a noun or pronoun in Classical or Hellenistic Greek apart from the meaning of the adjoining preposition; the writers themselves probably regarded prepositions as