GRAMMAR
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1. Pronouns & Their Antecedents
Explicitly or implicitly revealed, definitely or indefinitely
presented, every pronoun must refer to a noun; that noun is called an
antecedent. The noun is the antecedent of the pronoun. A noun is the name
of a person place, thing, quality, etc. The antecedent is that word to
which a pronoun refers. That word is a noun or word or words which stand
as a noun, known or taken as known, because pronouns stand in the place of
the nouns which they must ultimately represent. As a matter of
definition, a substantive is a noun or words or groups of words used as
nouns. Phrases and clauses can act as substantives, that is, as nouns.
Pronouns function as nouns do, with attention being given to their
various forms as substantives.
One of the principal obstacles to clear and immediate
understanding is the faulty use of pronouns. He, she, it; who, which,
what; this, that; the same, such, etc. can have meaning only if the
antecedent noun is immediately obvious to the reader. Hence the writer
should place all pronouns as close as possible to the antecedent. If,
after having done this, he finds that the reference of the pronoun is
still not obvious, he should repeat the antecedent or use a synonym for
it. If repetition proves awkward, he should recast the sentence. (College
English: the first year, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1960, pp.
28-29, is used by permission).
That “…the writer should place all pronouns as close as possible
to the antecedent” is advice not always followed in great literature,
including English translations of the Bible itself. Part of this comes
from the original writer's (scribe's, amanuensis, grammateus) assumption
that the reader will pay close attention to the subject matter being
written about all through the passage being read. Therefore, the use of a
pronoun and its antecedent should be kept upper most in the mind of the
reader, assuming the reader knows the subject matter in the first place.
Part of the advice, which is not always followed, stems from the
fact that the Bible must be translated into the English language from the
ancient Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek languages. They are ancient languages
which do not necessarily hold that “…the writer should place all pronouns
as close as possible to the antecedent”. This advice is applicable to the
structure of the English language; it is not necessarily applicable to,
for example, the Greek language. Further, English is a word-order
language, meaning that the position of words in an English sentence have
a bearing on the meaning of the sentence.
For example, “I speak [to them] that know the law” or, “I am
speaking [to them] knowing the law”.(from Romans 7:1) ...γινωσκουσιν
νομον λαλω ...That is a declarative sentence.
But, “Am I speaking [to them] knowing the law? ”
By changing the word-order of the
pronoun, I, and
the verb, am, the
English sentence becomes a question.
However, the Greek language is not so completely
dependant upon word-order as is the English language. For example, the
Greek language word-order of Romans 7:1 is,
γινωσκουσιν
νομον λαλω ...
but the word-order could just as well be, without essential loss
of meaning,
λαλω γινωσκουσιν νομον... γινωσκουσιν λαλω νομον... γινωσκουσιν νομον λαλω... with the Greek words having an English meaning of I am speaking [to them] knowing the law, with the subject and verb being combined in one word λαλω. That is, λαλ + ω is rendered as λαλω, meaning I speak or I am speaking.
Except in the imperative
mood, the personal pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they
need to be clearly expressed in the English language. But, in the Greek
language, they do not need to be. The Greek word (verb) endings reveal
the person and number, with the exception of the third person singular,
which is indefinite as to the meaning of he, she or it
and should be determined from the context. Otherwise, the Greek language
does use pronouns as separate words. For example, the demonstrative pronouns
αυτος (same, self, selves),
ουτος (this, these), and
εκεινος (that, those) are separately
expressed words in Greek. Also
included are the personal pronouns εγω (I), συ (you, singular), ‘ημεις
(we), ‘υμεις
(you, plural), etc., as are their
genitive forms which are used as possessive pronouns.
Pronouns must
agree with their antecedents in gender, number, and person. Their
case depends on their use in their own clause.
Summary of Greek Grammar for Pronouns
1. Pronouns
have antecedents, including those pronouns signified in the Greek
language by verb endings. This is exemplified in Romans 7:1 where the
Greek letter ω is added to the verb which, in turn, signifies the
English pronoun I. In
Romans 7:1, the pronoun I (signified by the Greek letter ω
in the word λαλω, "I am speaking",
"I speak", "I do speak") has as its
antecedent the proper noun Paul.
Whether pronouns are expressed, as in English, or unexpressed, as
in Greek, the pronouns must refer to antecedents. That is, the
pronoun I refers to the particular, proper noun Paul.
Since, in Romans 7:1, the
pronoun I has as its antecedent the noun Paul, The question then
arises: How far back in the text (or in context) does the noun Paul
appear so that the reader of his epistle knows that Paul is the
antecedent of the pronoun I. The word Paul appears only once in
the epistle TO ROMANS.
It(the word Paul) occurs only once, in Romans 1:1. To repeat, how does anyone come to
know that the pronoun I, the Greek letter word-ending, ω,
of the verb found in Romans 7:1, refers to the noun Paul of Romans 1:1?
Whether a pronoun is expressed as a word which is separate from a verb,
as it must be in the English language, or expressed as a part of the
verb, as it can be in the Greek language, a pronoun must still have an
antecedent. For example, when Paul reveals,"For I could wish that
myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to them
belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the
worship, the promises; to them
belong the patriarchs, and their race, according to the flesh,
is the Christ." Or, that is, Christ belonged to the Jews. (Romans
9:3-5a) Brethren is the antecedent of them. The pronoun them refers back
to the noun brethren and stands in its place. The brethren
are Paul's brethren, his brother Jews, not Gentiles.
Just as the subject of a sentence should not be overlooked, neither
should the substance of a section be ignored. That is, a reader should not lose sight of the substance,
which is defined here as that which forms the basic matter of thought,
discussion, or investigation of a pericope, i.e., the context.
2. Greek Verb
Endings signify pronouns: I, you (singular), he, she, it, we,
you (plural) or they No greater task is ever presented to students than
the analysis that must be undertaken in order to understand the words of
the apostle Paul. Since the apostle Peter's time, students of Paul's
words have had great difficulty in understanding his, Paul's,
message. Misinterpretations
abound but this does not suggest that Peter did not understand either
Greek pronouns or Paul.(2 Peter 3:15)Who is the "we" of
whom Paul speaks in Romans 4:1: "What shall “we”
say was gained by Abraham
"our" forefather in the flash?" Or, 3:1, "What advantage has the Jew? Or, 3:8, Or, 3:9, "Are
"we" (Jews) better off?" Undeniably, the context which
will hold the student on course is the necessity of determining the
subject that Paul is talking about right from the beginning - before
determining the pronoun that Paul uses.
The subject will be a noun which is the antecedent of a relative
pronoun. Paul presupposes that his listeners are familiar with the
Hebrew/Aramaic Scriptures, with the "forefathers", with
"Abraham our forefather in the flesh", with "Moses",
with the "Law and the prophets". …. Once more it must be emphasized, "Who is it that is
familiar with the Law and the Prophets but Paul's brother Jews? Some
English pronouns are I, you(singular), he, she, it, we, you(plural),
they, us, who, whom, which, what, this, that, these, those, each, either,
any, anyone, some, someone, one, no one, few, all, everyone, each other,
one another, myself, yourself, himself the same, such ...It is not uncharacteristic
of ancient languages, such as Greek and Latin, that often means
they(1) will have pronouns that refer back to explicit, well
defined subjects but are so positioned that they(2) are far removed from
well defined subjects. The first pronoun they(1) has, as its antecedent,
the noun languages. The second pronoun they(2) has, as its
antecedent, the noun pronouns.
Confusing? It exemplifies
the necessity of critical analysis when translating ancient languages. In
Greek and Latin, noun and pronoun suffixes do much to identify related
antecedents. As an exercise, students should compare Romans 9:31 and
10:1, wherein the Greek noun Ισραηλ
(Israel) of Romans 9:31 is the antecedent of the Greek pronoun
αυτων (them) of Romans 10:1.(RSV)
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