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Greek Lessons
- Command and Response: The Interplay of Imperatives and Indicatives in Matthew 8:9
- Neither Surplus Nor Lack: The Theology of Indifference in 1 Corinthians 8:8
- Thorns That Choke: Converging Aorists and Participial Force in Luke 8:7
- The Grammar of Compassion: Voice, Place, and Affliction in Matthew 8:6
- What the Flesh Minds, What the Spirit Sets: Parallelism and Prepositional Identity in Romans 8:5
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Category
Tag Archives: Acts 16:3
Grammar in the Service of Mission: Why Paul Circumcised Timothy
Τοῦτον ἠθέλησεν ὁ Παῦλος σὺν αὐτῷ ἐξελθεῖν, καὶ λαβὼν περιέτεμεν αὐτὸν διὰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους τοὺς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ ἅπαντες τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ὅτι Ἕλλην ὑπῆρχεν. (Acts 16:3)
Acts 16:3 opens a window into Paul’s apostolic strategy, where syntax, participles, and subordinate clauses become instruments of divine wisdom. Through a fine-grained grammatical study of this verse, we see how Paul adapts without compromising, acts decisively under pressure, and shapes a theological vision through linguistic precision.
The Verb That Leads: ἠθέλησενThe main clause begins with τοῦτον ἠθέλησεν ὁ Παῦλος, a typical word order in Koine narrative that frontloads the object (τοῦτον, “this one”) for emphasis.… Learn Koine Greek