New Testament / Koine Greek, 1st year, Lecture #12: Basics of Biblical Greek, Mounce, Chapters 13-14

Lecture #12 in New Testament or Koine Greek, a first year Greek at a college or seminary level taught by independent Baptist professor Thomas Ross, covers chapters 13 & 14 in Dr. William Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek. Chapter 13 discusses demonstrative pronouns and adjectives. Greek has a near demonstrative pronoun, houtos (οὗτος) and a far demonstrative pronoun, ekeinos (ἐκεῖνος). These demonstratives also function as demonstrative adjectives. When they function as pronouns their case is determined by their function in the sentence, while their number and gender are determined by their antecedent. When functioning as adjectives, the case, number, and gender of demonstratives agree with the word they are modifying. They will appear in the predicate position but be translated as attributive adjectives. First, second, and third attributive positions for adjectives, as well as the first and second predicate positions, are reviewed.

The forms of houtos and ekeinos in the masculine, feminine, and neuter singular and plural are:

οὗτος αὕτη τοῦτο
τούτου ταύτης τούτου
τούτῳ ταύτῃ τούτῳ
τοῦτον ταύτην τοῦτο
οὗτοι αὗται ταῦτα
τούτων τούτων τούτων
τούτοις ταύταις τούτοις
τούτους ταύτας ταῦτα

ἐκεῖνος ἐκείνη ἐκεῖνο
ἐκείνου ἐκείνης ἐκείνου
ἐκείνῳ ἐκείνῃ ἐκείνῳ
ἐκεῖνον ἐκείνην ἐκεῖνο
ἐκεῖνοι ἐκεῖναι ἐκεῖνα
ἐκείνων ἐκείνων ἐκείνων
ἐκείνοις ἐκείναις ἐκείνοις
ἐκείνους ἐκείνας ἐκεῖνα

Demonstrative pronouns may weaken in force and function like personal pronouns.

The Greek vocative case, the case of direct address, is taught. Vocative forms are very similar to nominative forms; in the plural, the vocative is always identical to the nominative plural. First declension singular nouns also have identical nominative and vocative forms. Second declension singular vocatives usually end in epsilon, while third declension vocative singulars usually are the bare word stem, sometimes with ablaut. There are 892 vocative forms in the Greek Textus Receptus in 571 verses.

Chapter 13 also covers the degrees of adjectives. Adjectives can be positive ("great"), comparative ("greater"), or superlative ("greatest"). In Koine Greek the comparative is sometimes used with superlative force.

Crasis is the formation of a word by combining two others. For instance, kai and ego combine to form kago, meaning "and I" the same way that kai ("and") and ego ("I") do separately. Mounce also covers the word word polus, "much" or "many."

In conjunction with the Greek vocabulary word semeion, Professor Ross also discusses the question: "Do Miracles Occur Today?" In the sense of semeion, the Old Testament word mofeth, and the English word “miracle” in the KJV, where a “miracle” is specifically a “sign,” the answer is “no.” In the broader sense of a mighty act of God’s supernatural power that is not necessarily a sign, illustrated by words such as the Greek dunamis, the answer is “yes.” Regeneration is not a miracle in the sense of semeion, although it is supernatural. It is a “miracle” in the sense of dunamis--a mighty act of God’s power, although not a sign-miracle and a wonder in the same way as Christ raising someone from the dead or feeding thousands of people with a handful of loaves and fishes is a miracle.

Chapter 14 of Basics of Biblical Greek, on the relative pronoun, is then taught. The English relative pronouns are “who,” “whom,” “that,” “which,” and “whose.” Relative pronouns always refer to a noun or a noun phrase rather than introducing a question, and they usually modify a noun. The Greek relative pronoun is hos, he, hon (ὅς, ἥ, ὅ). Its forms are:

ὅς ἥ ὅ
οὗ ἧς οὗ
ᾧ ᾗ ᾧ
ὅν ἥν ὅ
οἵ αἵ ἅ
ὧν ὧν ὧν
οἷς αἷς οἷς
οὕς ἅς ἅ

The nominative article has no accent in the masculine and feminine, helping to distinguish it from the relative pronoun. The relative pronoun follows 2-1-2 declension patterns and always has a rough breathing and an accent.

The case of the relative pronoun is determined by its function in its relative clause, not in the whole sentence. However, in cases of attraction the relative is altered to be the same case as its antecedent. Attraction usually occurs when the relative pronoun appears in immediate proximity to its antecedent, the antecedent is dative or genitive, and the relative pronoun normally would be accusative.

Following chapter 14's vocabulary, the books of the New Testament in Greek are listed:

Μαθθαῖον
Μᾶρκον
Λουκᾶν
Ἰωάννην
Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων
Ῥωμαίους
Κορινθίους ά
Κορινθίους β´
Γαλάτας
Ἐφεσίους
Φιλιππησίους
Κολοσσαεῖς
Θεσσαλονικεῖς ά
Θεσσαλονικεῖς β´
Τιμόθεον ά
Τιμόθεον β´
Τίτον
Φιλήμονα
Ἑβραίους
Ἰακώβου
Πέτρου ά
Πέτρου β´
Ἰωάννου ά
Ἰωάννου β´
Ἰωάννου γ´
Ἰούδα
Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰωάννου

Finally, a "theologian" or Theologos was defined as "one who speaks for God," and conversational Koine Greek from T. Michael W. Halcomb, Speak Koine Greek: A Conversational Phrasebook and pictures from T. Michael W. Halcomb, 800 Words and Images: A New Testament Greek Vocabulary Builder are reviewed.