From: Edward L. Pothier (POTHIER@neu.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 20 1998 - 19:19:24 EST
EPHESIANS 4:5 -- "ONE" IN ALL THREE GENDERS
Edward Pothier January 1998
Among the languages which use grammatical gender is Koine Greek,
the language in which the New Testament was written. In Koine Greek
every noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. The same holds
true for adjectives. Often the only difference for gender in adjectives
(since adjectives, which match the gender of the noun they modify,
have to be able to modify nouns of all three genders) is a change in
the ending of the word. (Koine Greek, being a highly inflected
language, also changes word endings for grammatical case).
Ephesians 4:5 is a verse which comes in the middle of a great New
Testament passage including a list of seven "ones" stressing unity.
Besides being part of an extremely rich theological lode (whether by
St. Paul or a later disciple of the Pauline school) it also is quite
interesting just grammatically. This verse, both in Greek and most
English translations, consists of only six words (three nouns, each
modified by the adjective "one"):
"<Ephesians 4:5> one Lord, one faith, one baptism;".
What is interesting is that in Greek the three nouns are all of
different grammatical genders: Lord=masculine, faith=feminine, and
baptism=neuter. The Greek adjective for "one" is a highly irregular
example doing more than just changing endings; so in this single verse
all three genders of the adjective "one" (in the nominative case)
occur:
"<Eph 4:5>_hEIS KURIOS, MIA PISTIS, hEN BAPTISMA_".
Students of the Greek NT get their money's worth on this verse!
=====================================================================
= Edward L. Pothier pothier@nuhub.dac.neu.edu =
= 3 Delore Circle [PREFER: pothier@neu.edu] IC | XC =
= Roslindale, MA 02131 ---|--- =
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