A grammatical
pattern in New Testament Greek that has far reaching theological and ministry
implications is, unfortunately, invisible to readers of English New Testaments.
Not to malign English or English translations, this “invisibility” points out
that English and Greek grammar and usage differ significantly, and this
necessarily degrades the transfer of data from the Greek New Testament to an
English translation. The pattern involved can be described as definite
article, substantive, conjunction, substantive.
Brooks and Winbery (Syntax of New
Testament Greek, 76) provide a formal definition for this “Granville Sharp
Rule”: “If two substantives [nouns or noun substitutes] are connected by “and” [καί]
and . . . the first has an article and the second does not, the second refers
to the same person or thing as the first.” This rule when applied to Titus 2:13
and 2 Peter 1:1 makes explicit statements about the deity of Jesus Christ. The
reader of the following representative English translation (New American
Standard Bible, NASB) can arrive at this conclusion (bold font) but
cannot appeal to the grammar to prove it:
Titus 2:13 — “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and
apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as
ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ"
2 Peter 1:1 — “looking for the blessed hope and the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”
Here are the same passages in Greek with the grammar highlighted in bold font:
Titus 2:13 — προσδεχόμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς
δόξης τοῦ [definite article] μεγάλου θεοῦ [substantive] καὶ [conjunction] σωτῆρος [substantive]
ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
2 Peter 1:1 — Συμεὼν Πέτρος δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῖς ἰσότιμον ἡμῖν λαχοῦσιν πίστιν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ [definite
article] θεοῦ [substantive] ἡμῶν καὶ [conjunction] σωτῆρος [substantive]
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
This can be helpful when reading liberal commentaries or encountering those who
deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
A second application of the
same grammatical pattern (definite article, substantive, conjunction,
substantive), but not the “Granville Sharp Rule,” appears in
Philippians 1:25. This time an important ministry principle emerges, one that
the reader of the English Bible cannot see and will miss.
A. T. Robertson, A
Grammar of the Greek New Testament, 787, explains this second application
of the grammatical pattern, “Sometimes groups [or ideas] more or less distinct are
treated as one for the purpose at hand using only one article [underline
mine].” This means that the interpreter must (1) see the pattern and (2)
determine how the pattern functions in the passage.
Philippians 1:25 in the
representative English translation (NASB) contains the phrase “for your
progress and joy in the faith.” Since English and Greek use the definite
article differently, an English translation may or may not reflect the presence
or absence of the Greek article. Therefore, by reading the text with an eye
towards the chances of the Greek definite article being present, four
possibilities can be identified. Note the definite article given in bold font.
Each of these are possible but only one reflects the underlying Greek text:
(a) for your the progress and the joy
in the faith
(b) for your the progress and joy in the faith
(c) for your progress and the joy in the faith
(d) for your progress and joy in the faith
The literary pattern (article, substantive, conjunction, substantive) is
clearly seen in the rewriting of the (b) translation noting the full pattern:
for your the (τὴν) progress (προκοπὴν) and (καὶ)
joy (χαρὰν) in the faith. The second article in (b) the (τῆς)
lies outside the purview of this pattern and explained below.
Two secondary items need
comment. First, the pronoun translated “your” (ὑμῶν) followed by the definite
article is possessive and encompasses the two sides of the one idea, progress
and joy. The translations, therefore, do well by rendering the phrase “your
progress and joy.” Second, the specifying article (τῆς) before “faith”
refers objectively to the content of the Christian faith
(Hawthorne, Philippians, Word Biblical Commentary series, 52;
Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 820). Most
translations reflect this appropriately with “the faith.”
The primary point of
discussion here is whether the literary pattern equates progress and joy as one
and the same, the Granville Sharp Rule, or ties the differing concepts together
to make a point. Clearly, the latter case fits best since joy is not another
designation for progress. Paul groups spiritual progress and joy under the
umbrella of the Christian faith. In using this pattern he desires his readers
to keep the two ideas together as parts of one discipling concept.
This has tremendous practical
implications for ministry. Christian leaders involved in discipleship must
encourage people to make positive spiritual progress, but not at the cost of
diminished joy. They must recognize and challenge spiritual lethargy and fading
joy to motivate believers to grow spiritually while increasing their
progress and joy—admittedly a difficult two-pronged duty when discipling
others. Thus, the literary pattern seen in Philippians 1:25 describes an
essential ministry obligation not stated so directly elsewhere in the New
Testament.
Definite article,
substantive, conjunction, substantive—This grammatical pattern occurs
frequently in the Greek New Testament but rarely observable in English. Not
recognizing this arrangement of words would be no problem if the interpretation
of the Bible were not at stake—but it is. One way forward, however, for those
who have little or no facility in Greek may be to consult a work such as Alfred
Marshall, Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1976. The definite articles and conjunctions as
well as other parts of speech are readily discoverable in this resource. It is thereby
possible to bring the “invisible” into focus for practical use.
On a personal and
practical note—In my decades of teaching Greek and Hebrew at the graduate level
as well as tutoring individuals who want to learn the languages, I discovered
that when I push students too far their commitment to learn and the joy of
mastering the language difficulties wanes. Therefore, I regularly and
systematically inserted practical “discoveries” in the biblical text to illustrate
the grammatical points and to instill the accompanying joy that can be theirs
in the language struggles.
