Intermediate Biblical Greek: An Introduction to the Syntax

NT希臘語中級：句法引論

Syntax is a study of the sentence. Instead of focusing on the morphology of a specific word, called inflection, syntax puts more emphasis on their uses – the function of the word in a sentence and how it determines the meaning of the sentence.

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1

THE CASES

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1.1 As a general rule for all the inflected languages, cases are applied to nominals (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adjectival participles, and articles), in order to indicate their grammatical function and relationship to other words within a sentences (e.g., subject, predicate nominative, direct object, indirect object).

It is not the word order but the case that tells the function and relationship. Thus being able to identify the case is the first priority in understanding a Greek sentence.

In the beginner’s level, we have learned the most commonly seen 5 cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative.

At that level, we simplify the discussion of the uses of the cases into their most predominate, such as nominative – subject or predicate; genitive – possessive, etc.

But in fact, there are more:

Nominative can be also appositive and genitive can also serve as the object of a preposition.

In this chapter, we will take a closer look at the uses of each cases, so that you will acquire a fuller picture and be able to treat them in the bible verses in a more comprehensive and critical way.

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1.2 We can view the meaning of the word in three layers:

(a) the meaning contributed by the semantics (meaning) of the case itself

(b) the meaning contributed by other syntactical features

(c) the meaning contributed by the broader context

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1.3 Instead of tossing the learner into a sea of all the hundreds of grammatical labels of the uses, we offer you a minimal but beyond the beginner’s level’s view of the cases and their meanings.

A more complete discussion of them can be found in a more advanced grammar or special study reports of this topic by scholars.

Another trap of the grammatical labels is that they give the learners an illusion that every use can be given a label listed by the grammarian. But in fact, there are examples that match perfectly well with the labels but there are more than those. Some may fall 20% on one label and 80% on the other. So it’s not correct to mechanically apply the labels, if not, the syntax of the NT becomes a boring labeling job.

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1.4 To systematically categorize the uses is the task for grammarians:

τ?ν π?στιν το? θεο?

subjective genitive, objective genitive, possessive genitive, genitive of source for το? θεο?

Instead of memorizing these terms, we encourage our students to see the full text and work out the meaning.