?? Syntax search for 1. Definite article in neuter WITH a noun in feminine

John  C Hamilton
John C Hamilton Member Posts: 14
edited November 21 in English Forum

Eph 2:8 has long been disputed as to exactly what "is not of yourselves". I just read a commentary that said there are many attestations of a feminine noun having an associated neuter article.  I'd like to see some.

ἐστε σεσωσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν

I can't figure out how to Syntax Search or Morph Search for this.

Please help.

John Hamilton, The Navigators

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Comments

  • John Fidel
    John Fidel MVP Posts: 3,334

    Hi John,

    If you go to Docs and open a Morph Query and set it as follows:

    You should get the results you are looking for. Others may have ideas using other search tools.

  • John  C Hamilton
    John C Hamilton Member Posts: 14

    Thanks, John.  But that doesn't work. It returns verses with a neuter article in one phrase, and a feminine noun in a whole different phrase -- even with the 2 Word span. 

    I can't figure out how to get a search to return Eph 2:8 -- and a whole lot of Church doctrine rides on this thing.

    Blessings,

  • John Fidel
    John Fidel MVP Posts: 3,334

    I get 27 results in 27 verses shown below. Is this what your results are?

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,682

    You can get Eph 2:8 as follows

    image

    The latter "Span" comes from a Proximity relation, which says the 2 words are adjacent (3 words allows one intervening word).  The first "Span" states that the words are in the same verse.

    However, there is only a neuter noun ("gift") associated with the neuter article, unless "God" (masculine) is the target. There is no Feminine noun

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,682

    there is only a neuter noun ("gift") associated with the neuter article, unless "God" (masculine) is the target. There is no Feminine noun

    Neuter article/feminine noun only occurs in Jn 20:19, Acts 18:1. But the article is also tagged as Feminine!

    Amongst the 27 results for Neuter article/masculine noun, many articles are also tagged as Masculine.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • John  C Hamilton
    John C Hamilton Member Posts: 14

    Hi Dave,

    I must not be explaining myself adequately.  Reformed theologians have long stated that "faith" is a gift of God to his elect, and they quote Eph 2:8 in support:  στε σεσωσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν.

    The difficulty lies in associating touto with pistis.  pistis is feminine; touto is neuter.

    I just read a commentary that stated this is not a problem, since there are several other places in NT where a feminine noun is antecedent to to a neuter pronoun (I was wrong to say neuter article.). 

    So I'm still left with how to set up a syntax search to return the "several other places".  Pls help.

    Thanks,

    John Hamilton

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,682

    If you look at my Morph Query above, change it as follows:-

    Part of Speech      Noun          Pronoun

    Gender                  Feminine    Neuter

    ...

    Span:  3 Words

    You should get 148 results

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)
    Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :) MVP Posts: 23,115

    Eph 2:8 has long been disputed as to exactly what "is not of yourselves"... I can't figure out how to Syntax Search

    Three clause visualization resources show different analysis where two of them have separate clauses in Ephesians 2:8 while one shows Ephesians 2:8 and part of Ephesians 2:9 being one sentence, which can be used for Syntax Search:

    Syntax Search example that includes Ephesians 2:8

    Keep Smiling [:)]