Theos?

Grammar questions which are not related to any specific text.
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David Robinson
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Joined: June 17th, 2011, 2:15 pm

Theos?

Post by David Robinson »

How do you see the use of "Theos" in the Greek texts, LXX or NT, do you see it applying only to The Almighty God when preceded by "ho," "ton," etc. etc. or not?

Coming here by suggestion, which might be quite good.

DR
cwconrad
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Re: Theos?

Post by cwconrad »

David Robinson wrote:How do you see the use of "Theos" in the Greek texts, LXX or NT, do you see it applying only to The Almighty God when preceded by "ho," "ton," etc. etc. or not?

Coming here by suggestion, which might be quite good.

DR
This is supposed to be a grammar question? It sure looks to me like an wide-open-ended invitation to discuss Biblical theology -- which is not what this forum is all about.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Theos?

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I think David is responding to this:
Jonathan Robie wrote:Here's are the verses:
Exodus 4:17 (LXX) wrote:καὶ αὐτός σοι προσλαλήσει πρὸς τὸν λαόν
καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται σου στόμα
σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ ἔσῃ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν
2 Cor 4:3-4 wrote:3 εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστιν κεκαλυμμένον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν, ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἐστὶν κεκαλυμμένον, 4 ἐν οἷς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ.
I don't think they suggest that you can rightly call a human being "God" as you say. In 2 Cor 4:4, Satan is called "the god of this world (ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος), not just ὁ θεὸς as you implied. The phrase in Exodus 4:17, σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ ἔσῃ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, is a lot more interesting, but it doesn't say that Moses is ὁ θεὸς, it says that to Aaron he will be τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. We can discuss phrases like this in the Beginner's Forum, but even there, you need to be able to quote your texts in Greek, and we'll be encouraging you to focus on the basics of learning Greek rather than theological controversies, pushing you to read for yourself in Greek.
David - did you have specific questions about the grammar or vocabulary in either of these verses, or any of the phrases? Did you wish to disagree with any of what I said above?

Please do keep your focus on the meaning of the Greek here.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
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