Bible Lexicons

Apart from connexion with μέν or δέ (see below) the demonstrative use of the art. in the NT is confined to a poetical quotation Acts 17:28, but it is not uncommon in the papyri, e.g. P Par 45.8 (B.C. 153) ( = Witkowski.2, p. 85) τὰ (for ἃ) πράσεις (l. πράσσεις) , P Oxy VIII. 1160.16 (iii/iv A.D.) τὰ (for ἃ) σεσύλληχα (for συνείληχα) δὲ κέρμα <τα > τηρῶ αὐτὰ εἰς τὴν δίκην, ";I am keeping for the trial the money that I have collected"; (Ed.). For the distributive ὁ μέν. . . ὁ δέ, as in 1 Corinthians 7:7, cf. P Lond 33.6 (B.C. 161) (= I. p. 19, U.P.Z. i. p. 239) καὶ τὰ μὲν ἡμῶν ἐληφότων εἰς τὴν γινομένην ἡμῖν συντάξειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἔτι διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων < . . . . . > παρελκομένων.

The use of the art. as a relative, of which there is no trace in the NT, may again be illustrated by the following papyrus citations from c. A.D. 346—P Lond 414.9 ( = II. p. 292) γεινω ̣σ ̣κιν σε θέλω περὶ τοῦ βρεουίου (brevium, ";memorandum";) τό μοι δέδωκες, ib. 413.9 (=II. p. 301) ἵνα ἀνταποδώσει σο ̣ι ̣ [τὴν ἀγ ]άπην τὴν ποιεῖς δι᾽ αὐτοῦ, and ib. 244.14 (=II.p. 304) τὴν χῖ (= εῖ)ρα (";certificate"; ) τὴν δέδωκεν. See also P Grenf II. 41.14 (A.D. 46) οἴνου κεράμια δύωι τῶν τε ̣ προσδιαγράψο (= ω), P Oxy XIV.1765.10 (iii/A.D.) τοὺς (= οὓς) γὰρ ἔπεμψάς μοι τρεῖς στατῆρας πάλιν σοι διεπεμψάμην, P Hamb I. 22.3 (iv/A.D.) [Υ ]ἱὲ θεοῦ μεγάλοιο τὸν οὐδέποτε δρᾶκεν ἀνήρ, and the illiterate BGU III. 948.12 (iv/v A.D.) ποιῶ σοι εἱ (= ἱ)μάτια πρὸς τὸ δύνομε (= αι), ";I am making garments for you as far as I can."; The usage is rare in the Ptolemaic period (Mayser Gr. p, 310 f.), but see P Magd 28.10 (B.C. 217) ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτοὶ γεωργοῦσιν γῆς.

The RV rendering in Luke 2:49 ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου, ";in my Father’s house,"; receives fresh confirmation from passages such as P Oxy III. 523.3 (ii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 97) an invitation to dinner ἐν τοῖς Κλαυδ (ίου) Σαραπίω (νος), P Tebt II. 316ii. 23 (A.D. 99) οἰκοῦμεν δὲ ἐν τῷ ἔνπροσθι ̣ς ̣ (l. ἔμπροσθε) ναυάρχου ἐν τοῖς Ποτάμωνος, ";we live opposite the admiralty in the house of Potamon"; (Edd.), and in the sing. P Oxy IX. 1215.4 (ii/iii A.D.) μὴ ἀπέλθῃς εἰς τὸ Σατύρου, αἰπεὶ γὰρ ἀκούομεν ὅτι κακὰ μέλλι (= ει) πράσ <σ >ι <ν >, ";do not go to the house of Satyrus, for we hear that he is going to get into trouble"; (Ed.). From the inscrr. we may cite C. and B. ii. p. 655, no. 581 ῎ Ερως Ἑρμοῦ κατεσκεύασε ἐν τῦς (l. τοῖς) προγονικοῖς ἑαυτῷ καὶ Λουκιανῇ συμβίῳ ζῶντες τὸ μνημῖον.

Other prepositional phrases are P Tebt I. 59.5 (B.C. 99) τῶν ἐξ ὑμῶν, ";members of your society,"; P Amh II. 66.30 (A.D. 124) ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ Στοτοῆτιν Πεκύσεως πρὸς Σαταβοῦν Πεκύσεως, ";in the case of Stotoëtis son of Pekusis against Satabous son of Pekusis"; (Edd.), P EiEph 13.3 (B.C.223–2) ἐχάρην ἐπὶ τῶι με αἰσθέσθαι τὰ κατὰ σέ, ";I was glad when I perceived the state of your affairs"; (cf. Acts 24:22, al.), P Oxy I. 120.14 (iv/A.D.) ἄχρις ἂν γνῶ πῶς τὰ κατ᾽ αἰμαὶ ἀποτίθαιται, ";until I know the state of my affairs,"; and from the inscrr. C. and B. i. p. 150, No. 45 ἐπὶ ὅ, ";in view of which.";

(5) We may notice one or two anarthrous prepositional phrases in the NT which can be paralleled from the papyri—Matthew 27:45 ἀπὸ δὲ ἕκτης ὥρας, cf. P Oxy III. 523.4 (ii/A.D.) τῆι ις ̄ ἀπὸ ὥρας θ ̄, ";on the 16th at 9 o’clock";; Acts 2:23; Acts 7:25 διὰ χειρός, cf. P Magd 25.2 (B.C. 221) ὀφείλων γάρ μ [ο ]ι διὰ χερὸς κριθῶν (ἀρτάβας) ιε ̄, ";il m’a emprunté de la main à la main et me doit quinze artabes d’orge"; (Ed.); Acts 7:21, Hebrews 1:5 εἰς υἱόν, cf. P Oxy I. 37i. 9 (A.D. 49) (=Selections, p. 49) ἐγένετο ἐνθάδε ἡ τροφεῖτις εἰς υἱὸν τοῦ Πεσούριος, ";there took place there the contract for the nursing of the son of Pesouris";; Matthew 26:6 ἐν οἰκίᾳ, cf. P Oxy I. 51.13 (A.D. 173) ἐπὶ παρόντι τῷ αὐτῷ ὑπηρέτῃ ἐν οἰκίᾳ Ἐπαγαθοῦ, ";in the presence of the aforesaid assistant at the house of Epagathus";; Romans 5:6 κατὰ καιρόν, cf. P Lond 974.5 (A.D. 305–6) (= III. p. 116) τῶν κατὰ καιρὸν εἴδων ὀπωριμείων, ";fruits in season";; and Mark 3:6 περὶ Τύρον καὶ Σιδῶνα, cf. ib. 45.9 (A.D. 95) περὶ κώμην Κορῶβ [ιν ?. Similarly πρὸ προσώπου σου Matthew 11:10 may be paralleled by Herodas viii. 59 ἔρρ᾽ ἐκ προσώπου.

In themselves these exx. may not seem of much importance, but they are of interest, as Eakin (AJP xxxvii. (1916), p. 334) has pointed out, as illustrating the liking of the NT writers for ";short-cut"; phrases in keeping with the common speech of the time, and further as reminding us that, even when the art. is absent, it should frequently be expressed in translation. Ἐν οἰκίᾳ, e.g., in Luke 8:27 is not ";in any house"; (AV, RV), but ";in the house,"; i.e. ";at home";; while ἐν συναγωγῇ in John 6:59 is simply ";in the synagogue,"; or, as we would say, ";in church,"; rather than ";in time of solemn assembly"; (Westcott ad l.).

(6) Deissmann discusses the anaphoric use of the art. with proper names in the Berl. Phil. Woch. xxii. (1902) p.1467 f., where he shows that, when a name is introduced without an art., the art. is frequently prefixed to each recurrence of the name, much in the sense of our ";the aforesaid,"; e.g. P Grenf I. 40.3 (ii/B.C.) Νεχθμίνιος, but .5 τὸν Νεχθμῖνιν, P Oxy I. 37i. 5 (A.D. 49) (= Selections, p. 49) Πεσοῦρις, but .9 ἡ τροφεῖτις εἰς υἱὸν τοῦ Πεσούριος. But, as showing that the practice was not uniform, cf. BGU I. 276.9 f. (ii/iii A.D.) λαβὼν τὰ γρ [ά ]μματα Σερήνου τοῦ νομεικοῦ, πρὸς Σέρηνον γενέσθαι.

(7) The art. is frequently inserted before the gen. of a father’s or mother’s name appended to the name of a person, as in P Oxy I. 45.4 (A.D. 95) Διογένους τοῦ Πτολεμαίου παρακεχωρημένου παρὰ Ταποτάμωνος τῆς Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Κολύλιδ (ος) . . ., ";Diogenes, son of Ptolemaeus, has had ceded to him by Tapota non, the daughter of Ptolemaeus, son of Kolylis. . .";

(8) ὁ καί introducing an alternative name, as in Acts 13:9, meets us everywhere both in the papyri and in the inscriptions. According to Mayser Gr. p. 311 the nom. first appears in Roman times, e.g. BGU I. 22.25 (A.D. 114) Ἀμμώνιος ὁ καὶ Φίμων, ib. 36.4 (ii/A.D.) Στοτόητις ὁ καὶ Φανῆσις. For earlier exx. of the gen., see P Par 15 bisi. 3 (B.C. 143) Σισοΐτος τοῦ καὶ Ἐριέως, P Grenf I. 21.12 (B.C. 126) Ἀπολλωνίας τῆς καὶ Σεμμώνθιος, and of the dat., see P Rein 26.5 (B.C. 104) Διονυσίωι τῶι καὶ Πλήνει. From the inscrr. we may cite Priene 313.86 (list of placenames from the gymnasium—i/B.C.) ὁ τ (όπος) Ἀπελ [λᾶ τ ]οῦ καὶ Ζ [ω ]πυρίωνο [ς, Magnesia, 122 (h).4 (iv/A.D.) Εὐτυχίου τοῦ καὶ Ταγηνίου. According to Hatch JBL xxvii (1908) p. 141 the phrase has been found as early as B.C. 400 in a fragment of Ctesias. In Archiv vi. p. 213 Sir F. G. Kenyon publishes an ostrakon of A.D. 174–5 with the dating ιε ̄ (ἔτους) τοῦ καὶ α ̄ (ἔτους), ";for the fiftieth year, which is also the first.";

(9) With this may be compared the use of the art. in private or familiar letters, showing that the person referred to was well known to the author, as in P Oxy I. 117.17 (ii/iii A.D.) τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἀσπάζου καὶ τὴν Κύριλλαν, ";salute your sister and Cyrilla.";

As regards the names of places, the art. is not used unless it be anaphoric as in P Oxy III. 475.15 (A.D. 182) ἀπὸ Σενέπτα, followed by .17 ἐν τῇ Σενέ [πτα and .28 εἰς τὴν Σενέπτα : cf. Acts 9:2 f; Acts 10:1; Acts 10:24.

(10) A good ex. of the noun followed by an adj., both with the art. as in John 10:11, is afforded by P Oxy I. 113.29 (ii/A.D.) where a man writes to a business correspondent—ἔσχον παρὰ Κορβόλωνος τοὺς τυροὺς τοὺς μεγάλους, ";I received the large cheeses from Corbolon,"; notwithstanding the fact that it was small cheeses he had ordered—οὐκ ἤθελον δὲ μεγάλους ἀλλὰ μεικροὺς ἤθελον.

(11) On the much disputed question whether in Titus 2:13 τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ the reference is to one person or to two, we may cite for what it is worth in favour of the former interpretation P Leid G.3 (B.C. 181–145) (= I. P. 42) τῷ ἐπὶ [τ ]ῶν προσόδ [ω ]ν καὶ βασιλ [ικ ]ῷ [γρ ]αμματεῖ, ";redituum Procuratori qui et Regius scriba"; (Ed.). As showing that the translation ";our great God and Saviour"; (one person) was current in vii/A.D. among Greek-speaking Christians reference may also be made to the formula in BGU II. 366.1 ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου καὶ δ [εσπότου ] Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν : cf. ib. 367, 368, al. See further Proleg. p. 84 where a curious parallel is quoted from the Ptolemaic formula applied to deified Kings—P Grenf II. 15i. 6 (B.C. 139) τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ εὐεργέτου καὶ σωτῆρος [ἐπιφανοῦς ] εὐχαρίστο [υ.

We may also note here the use of the art. with the nom. in forms of address, as in Luke 18:11 ὁ θεός : see Blass Gr. p. 86 f., and Wackernagel Anredeformen pp. 7 ff., 11 ff., where reference is made to the common formula on Christian gravestones—ὁ θεός, ἀνάπαυσον.

(12) The common articular infin. with a preposition (e.g. P Oxy I. 69.15 (A.D. 190) εἰς τὸ καὶ ἐμαὶ (l. ἐμὲ) δύνασθαι τὴν κριθὴν ἀπολαβεῖν, ";so that I may be able to recover the barley"; ) need only be referred to here in order to point out that the art. is sometimes omitted in the papyri in the case of family or business accounts, as when provision is made for so much—εἰς πεῖν (BGU II. 34ii. 7—A.D. 223). Nothing answering to this is found in the NT, another proof of the general ";correctness"; of its articular usage (Proleg. p. 81).

Τοῦ c. inf. (a gen. of reference, Brugmann) occurs in inscrr., e.g. C. and B. ii. p. 608, No. 497.7 τοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους. . . πειρᾶσ [θαι. . . ἀ ]γαθοῦ τινος παραιτίους ἔσ ]εσθ [αι ? τῷ δήμῳ. With 2 Corinthians 1:8 we may perhaps compare the ablatival usage in the Lycaonian inscr. cited s.v. διχοτομέω —τῷ διχοτομήσαντί με τοῦ πολοέτιον ζῆν. See further Evans CQ xv. (1921), p. 26 ff.

Other exx. will be found in Eakin’s paper on ";The Greek Article in First and Second Century Papyri"; in AJP xxxvii. (1916), p. 333 ff., to which we are much indebted, and in the exhaustive study by F. VÖlker on ";Der Artikel"; (Münster, 1903) in the Beilage zu dem Jahresberichte über das Realgymnasium zu Münster i. W. fur das Schuljahr 1902.