Re: The article for abstract nouns

From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Wed Dec 31 1997 - 15:48:24 EST


At 12:38 PM 12/31/97 -0700, Williams, Wes wrote:
 
>In addition to Carl's insightful comments, I will add Acts 28:6
>when Paul was bitten by the ECIDNA and did not die, the Maltans began to
>say that [Paul] EINAI QEON.

A useful example, Wes. However, as you point out, this usage is a
reflection of the theology of the Maltans, not the theology of the NT
writers; QEOS is a count noun to the Maltans, and to all those who worship
"the Gods". To the NT writers, though, it does not seem to be used as a
count noun when it is singular (I am describing what I see in the results
of a Gramcord search, but it is possible that I am missing an instance
somewhere).

>in terms of the lexical nature of the word, we see
>that the word "QEOS" is a count noun. Whether or not it is definite
>comes from context, not the word itself.

If "the lexical nature of the word" includes the way it was used in Greek
society as a whole, I think that we all agree that QEOS is frequently used
as a count noun in the rest of Greek literature. Do you know of any
examples where QEOS is used as a count noun by a NT writer who is
describing the beliefs of Christians?

Suppose the Bible had been written in English rather than Greek. When
Christians say "God", they generally mean the one God; when they say "a
god", they are probably referring to a God from some other religion, and
they would not be implying that this "god" is truly a god.

I doubt very much that QEOS HN hO LOGOS can mean:

a. "Jesus is a God, just like Yahweh, Zeus, and Athene"; this would be
foreign to the world view of the entire Scripture;
b. "Jesus is God, and God is Jesus"; it is clear in verse 1:18 that Jesus
came from the bosom of the Father, and a distinction is consistently drawn
between God the Father and the Son. As Robertson (and Paul Dixon) have
pointed out, it would have said hO QEOS HN hO LOGOS if it meant to make
that assertion.

Unfortunately, I am still very hazy on the exact meaning of words like
"definite", "indefinite", and "qualitative", but consider this passage:

Rev 21:7 hO NIKWN KLHRONOMHSEI TAUTA KAI ESOMAI AUTW QEOS KAI AUTOS ESTAI
MOI UIOS.
Reve 21:7 (NASU) "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be
his God and he will be My son.

Here, QEOS seems to refer to a relationship; it does not mean "I will be
divine to him", it means "I will be his God". The speaker, incidentally, is
hO KAQHMENOS, the one seated on the throne, which seems to refer to God the
Father in the Book of Revelation.

A similar use of QEOS is found in 2 Cor 6:16:

2 Cor 6:16 ...KAI ESOMAI AUTWN QEOS KAI AUTOI ESONTAI MOU LAOS
2 Cor 6:16 (NASU) ...And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

I do not know how to describe this usage in terms of "definite",
"indefinite", and "qualitative". To me, "I will be their God" is a lot like
"I will be their Father", it means he will care for us, that we will treat
him as our Lord and master, and he will treat us as his children. Again, "I
will be divine to them" does not feel like an adequate translation here.

Personally, I would expect that the meaning of QEOS in the phrases ESOMAI
AUTWN QEOS and QEOS HN hO LOGOS is quite similar. I'm not ready to write my
opinion in concrete, though...

> As for QEOS acting as a pseudo proper name, Paul wrote in 1 Cor
>8:5,6 hHMIN hEIS QEOS hO PATHR (there is to us one God, the Father).
>Paul infrequently uses QEOS without the article in reference to the
>Father, but his habitual use of language (QEOS c. 309 times)
>distinguishes KYRIOS IESOUS CRISTOS from QEOS.

I would agree with this.

>[Jesus and the Father] are carefully distinguished both in Paul
>and John (cf. John 1:1b, John 1:18b).

I agree with this as well.

Jonathan
 
___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com

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