Bill Mounce

For an Informed Love of God

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Thursday, December 22, 2022

What’s an Apposition? (1 John 1:3)

One of the more common constructions in Greek is the appositional construction. It is often downplayed in first–year Greek, but it is quite common. There are also two types of appositional constructions, the Simple Apposition and the Genitive of Apposition. The difference between the two is nuanced but important. We will be looking at three verses, Ephesians 1:1, 1 John 1:3, and Romans 4:11.

Comments

Submitted by DougP on Wed, 2022-12-21 11:43
When it comes to Acts 2:38, "gift of the Holy Spirit," I am tugged in two directions. On the one hand, I see how it can be genitive of apposition (or, epexegetical), but on the other I see the simple possessive genitive (Holy Spirit's gift). Either way, "exegesis" is needed, which then begs the question, which is it? LOL

Submitted by Harold Rosenkrans on Wed, 2022-12-21 15:08
Ok, I'm trying to apply my new learning to some current studies. Hebrews 1:1 - is ελεγχος in simple apposition to πιστις, the head noun? They are both singular and in the nominative. I am curious because I see some translations of ελεγχος as proof or evidence. NAS translates it as conviction. All the subsequent examples of faith start with πιαστει (dative) which NAS translates by faith, implying that the following statement serves as proof or evidence of the faith introduced in verse one. As James stated; " you show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by works" Thanks in advance