Tag Archives: Luke 18:9

Εἶπε δὲ καὶ πρός τινας τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι εἰσὶ δίκαιοι, καὶ ἐξουθενοῦντας τοὺς λοιποὺς, τὴν παραβολὴν ταύτην· (Luke 18:9) A Pronoun That Reveals a Theological Fault Line

In Luke 18:9, Jesus addresses “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt”. This verse introduces the well-known parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Yet within its framing clause lies a syntactic structure of profound theological significance: the reflexive pronoun ἑαυτοῖς (“themselves”) in the phrase τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῖς.

This is no mere grammatical filler. The reflexive ἑαυτοῖς, paired with the preposition ἐφ’ and the perfect active participle πεποιθότας, functions not only as a syntactic complement but as a linguistic mirror — one that exposes the inner logic of self-justification.… Learn Koine Greek