Usage of the Definite Article in the Greek Gospels:
"Jesus", "the Jesus", or "the Savior"
January 2, 2014
Apprentice Graham
introduction
Master said in passing that the Greek New Testament uses the definite article before proper nouns. Master concluded that "Jesus" should be translated as "the Savior". I inferred that the translators are knowingly perpetrating a fraud, or at the least, are being inconsistent in their translations if Master is correct. Therefore, I went to the source, since extraordinary statements require extraordinary evidence.
part the first
The Blue Letter Bible is a tremendous tool for the budding philologist. Utilizing a Boolean search (G3588 AND G2424), showed that "the Jesus" does not appear in the Septuagint. The Septuagint is commonly abbreviated as LXX, since few people can correctly pronounce it and most researchers are generally lazy and use abbreviations. After long years of waiting, I knew that Master was incorrect and the feeling of schadenfreude was overwhelming. It was in this moment of ecstasy that I remembered there are two commonly used versions of the Greek New Testament: the Septuagint and the Textus Receptus (abbreviated TR for the reasons given above). The TR dates from 1516 and being a work of Modern scholarship and the product of Erasmus, I reasoned it can not have utilized the definite article before a proper noun. I was profoundly disappointed to find that the Textus Receptus does, on a few occasions, use the definitive article before a proper noun.
Erasmus' purpose of the TR was to demonstrate the superiority of the Latin text over the Greek text. The Greek and Latin versions were on opposite pages to facilitate the comparison. The book went through many editions and corrections. Unfortunately for Erasmus, scholars were not interested in the Latin, but in the Greek. We infer from this disinterest in the Latin text that the scholars were either in possession of the Latin text or deemed the Latin to be inferior, for whatever scholarly reason, to the Greek text. Of course, Latin can be written without definite articles, to wit, Pilate's famous statement, "Ecce Homo", can be translated into English as "Behold the man", "Behold a man" or, in poor English, "Behold man". The Greek Language does not offer this flexibility when translated into English.
Erasmus' purpose of the TR was to demonstrate the superiority of the Latin text over the Greek text. The Greek and Latin versions were on opposite pages to facilitate the comparison. The book went through many editions and corrections. Unfortunately for Erasmus, scholars were not interested in the Latin, but in the Greek. We infer from this disinterest in the Latin text that the scholars were either in possession of the Latin text or deemed the Latin to be inferior, for whatever scholarly reason, to the Greek text. Of course, Latin can be written without definite articles, to wit, Pilate's famous statement, "Ecce Homo", can be translated into English as "Behold the man", "Behold a man" or, in poor English, "Behold man". The Greek Language does not offer this flexibility when translated into English.
part the second
The following are examples of the use of the definitive article in the Gospels of the TR.
Matthew 16:17
Matthew 26:75 Matthew 27:17 Matthew 27: 22 Mark 12:17 Mark 14:18 Luke 6: 3 John 8:31 John 11:45 John 13:1 John 18:15 |
the Jesus
the Peter the Pilate the Pilate the Jesus the Jesus the Jesus the Jesus the Jesus the Jesus the Jesus |
The name "Jesus" is used hundreds of times in the Gospels and with only a handful of instances of the definitive article before the proper name, we are inclined to conclude that this is due to scribal error. Unfortunately, we are not satisfied with this conclusion. Since the TR was published through many editions and these new editions contained corrections, we can not offer any reasons why the definitive article remains before any proper nouns. The few times "Pilate" is mentioned coupled with fact that there are two instances of the definite article suggests that the original reading was "Pontius the spear thrower" and not "Pontius Pilate". We attribute the definite article before Peter's name in Matthew 26:75 to poor Greek and not, as many people would suggest, to scribal error.
part the third
One can read on various websites that the use of the definite article is common in the Greek and the translators should drop the definite article when rending the text into English. We would agree with this advice if all instances of proper names utilized the definite article. Since the occurrence of the definite article tends to be associated with Jesus (8 out of 11 times), we reasonably conclude that the original reading was, in fact, "the Savior" and not "Jesus".
conclusion
Some people may want to reach the conclusion that since the LXX does not utilize the definite article before the proper noun, the LXX was the original text and the TR introduced the definite article in some instances through scribal error. This is a possibility, but we are inclined to see the LXX as the final product of the TR. In conclusion, the total omission of the definite article before proper names in the LXX demonstrates what Modern scholarship and an understanding of the Greek language can accomplish.
The spelling of Saviour and Savior throughout English history.
The spelling of Saviour and Savior throughout English history.