Ephesians 6:17 τὴν μάχαιραν ..., ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ

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DASchoch
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Joined: September 3rd, 2018, 3:29 pm

Ephesians 6:17 τὴν μάχαιραν ..., ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ

Post by DASchoch »

καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου δέξασθε, καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ.

I see that "τὴν μάχαιραν" are in agreement in the feminine, and that "τοῦ Πνεύματος" are in agreement in the neuter, no problem so far. Then in the relative clause, "ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ" the "ὅ" is neuter leading some to believe that the rhema (which is also in the neuter) is the Spirit rather than the "sword of the Spirit." This is what I am trying to figure out, from what my discussion partner is saying:

"We are still, though, looking at the clause "which is the word of God". Something is the word of God. But what? What is the Word of God in this verse? Unfortunately we are not provided with a proper noun, or even a regular noun, but a relative pronoun. So just what is the word of God? It depends upon what the relative pronoun G3739 relates to."

He believes that the Word of God here is the Spirit, but I don't see that according to the Greek...unless I am missing or forgetting something. To me the sentence structure and paragraph are clear: the sword of the Spirit is the word of God, just as the text states.

My question is this: am I missing something? Does the Greek text tell us that the word of God here is the Spirit? Because that just doesn't make any sense to me.

Thank you.

Blessings!
..
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Ephesians 6:17

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Good question. Two possibilities:

1) ὅ becomes neuter by way of attraction to the predicate, ῥῆμα, something which is relatively common in ancient Greek.

2) ὅ refers to the entire preceding clause, which means that the author is thinking of τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος as a kind of unit.

Since attraction is a regular feature of the grammar, I think that's to be preferred.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Ephesians 6:17

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Another possibility is ὅ ἐστιν = τουτέστιν = id est (i.e.). The neuter simply became so entrenched as a fixed form that it ceased to be inflected like other discourse markers. This is basically BDF's explanation:
BDF § 132(2) wrote:In explanatory phrases Koine employs the neuter ὅ ἐστιν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν (τουτέστιν) 'that is to say', a formulaic phrase used without reference to the gender of the word explained to to that of the word which explains--a usage which is perhaps strengthened by the Latin id est, hoc est. Yet the gender is readily assimilated to the predicate where there is identification: 1 C 3: 17 (§131), E 3: 13 θλίψεσιν . . ., ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν, Ph 1:28, A 16: 12 (§164(3)); be even here ὅ ἐστιν is possible (E 5: 5).

(2) *** Ὅ ἐστιν is vernacular, τουτέστιν literary: Mayser II 1,75,75. ***
BDAG ὅς (1)(g)(α) wrote:The neut. is used α. in explanations, esp. of foreign words and of allegories: ὅ ἐστιν which or that is, which means: βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ, ὅ ἐστιν βασιλεὺς εἰρήνης Hb 7:2; cp. Mt 27:33; Mk 3:17; 7:11, 34; 15:42. Also ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον Mt 1:23; Mk 5:41; Ac 4:36; cp. J 1:38, 41f. ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενος κρανίου τόπος Mk 15:22 v.l. (for μεθερμηνευόμενον). τόπος, ὸ̔ λέγεται, Ἑβραϊστὶ Γολγοθά J 19:17.—S. also αὐλῆς, ὅ ἐστιν πραιτώριον Mk 15:16. λεπτὰ δὺο, ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης 12:42. τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκκλησία Col 1:24. πλεονέκτης ὅ ἐστιν εἰδωλολάτρης Eph 5:5. τὴν ἀγάπην ὅ ἐστιν σύνδεσμος τῆς τελειότητος Col 3:14.—B-D-F §132, 2.
On the other hand, BDAG prefers Barry's explanation 1 for Eph 6:17:
BDAG ὅς (1)(d) wrote:Attraction (or assimilation) of the relative. Just as in Hdt. and freq. Att., ins, pap, LXX, the simple relative ὅς, ἥ, ὅ is somet. attracted to the case of its antecedent, even though the relationship of the relative within its own clause would demand a different case.
α. In most instances it is the acc. of the rel. that is attracted to the gen. or dat. of the antecedent: ***
β. The dat. of the relative is less frequently attracted (B-D-F §294, 2; Rob. 717) ***
γ. In relative clauses that consist of subject, predicate, and copula, the relative pron. somet. agrees in gender and number not w. the noun to which it refers, but w. the predicate if it is the subj. and, conversely, w. the subj. if it is the pred. of its own clause: πνεύματι … , ὅς ἐστιν ἀρραβών Eph 1:14 v.l. τῷ σπέρματί σου, ὅς ἐστιν Χριστός Gal 3:16. τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα θεοῦ Eph 6:17.—Rv 4:5; 5:8.
I don't really see much of a need to decide between these two explanations, and the fact that ῥῆμα is neuter means that the reason to use ὅ ἐστιν is overdetermined.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
DASchoch
Posts: 15
Joined: September 3rd, 2018, 3:29 pm

Re: Ephesians 6:17 τὴν μάχαιραν ..., ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ

Post by DASchoch »

Thanks guys, that really helps!

Blessings!
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