Ephesians 1:3 grammatical question

Hi all,

i‘m sentence diagraming Ephesians 1:3 and just wanting to know w my suspicions are correct. It is regarding the 3 prepositional phrases of relative clause “who has blessed us,” therefore , are “with every spiritual blessing,” “in the heavenly places” and “in Christ” all modifying the verb “has blessed”.

my reasoning for saying they are is because they answer the adverb questions how and where, but I have my reservations in that “with every spiritual blessing,”could be being modified by “in the heavenly places” which could be being modified by “in Christ” as they answer the adverb question “where?”

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Comments

MJ. Smith

That's how the Cascadia Clause Visualization views it.

Brandon Stevens

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220035#Comment_1220035

That's how the Cascadia Clause Visualization views it.

Do you mean all the prepositional phrases modifying the verb ”has blessed”

David Thomas

wanting to know w my suspicions are correc

3 different Logos resources to check your work

Brandon Stevens

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220085#Comment_1220085

wanting to know w my suspicions are correc

3 different Logos resources to check your work

If I read It correctly Cascadia indicates that ”with every spiritual blessing”, ”in the heavenly places”, and in Christ,” are functioning adverbially and are modifying ”has blessed”. I wish I could make use of Dr Leedy's sentence diagrams, but I don’t know Greek [:'(] [:)]

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Brandon Stevens

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220108#Comment_1220108

Here is the diagram so far.

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220150#Comment_1220150

Looks good, imo. Regarding the question, I think when you have a sequential series of adverbial prep phrases, as here, the best way to proceed with your analysis is to append them to the verb unless there is some reason you can't.

Brandon Stevens

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220157#Comment_1220157

Looks good, imo. Regarding the question, I think when you have a sequential series of adverbial prep phrases, as here, the best way to proceed with your analysis is to append them to the verb unless there is some reason you can't.

I have heard Dr. Leedy say in a sentence diagraming video that he believes most prepositional phrases are adverbial in nature so attaching them to the verb unless there is a reason not to makes sense.

David Thomas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220108#Comment_1220108

I wish I could make use of Dr Leedy's sentence diagrams, but I don’t know Greek

Fortunately, in Logos with a Reverse Interlinear, one can "translate" quite easily.

note: "be" or "is" is not in the Greek (hence "ein" in parenthesis). it is supplied for English grammar; also,

note: Greek starts with "a verbless clause" (does not exist in English, hence the benefit of studying the original) The Subject of the verbless clause is "the God and Father" so Leedy has "blessed be" modifying, not the front of the diagram.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220278#Comment_1220278

Greek starts with "a verbless clause" (does not exist in English . . .

How do you analyze "Good morning" or responses to a question such as "very much"? Seem pretty verbless to me. While they may not be well-formed sentences, they are well formed English utterances. Sorry but I'm feeling like a devilish advocate today - your point is well taken as intended.

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220326#Comment_1220326

I remember being in elementary school and getting red marked for utilizing verbless statements in my writing and homework, often accompanied by "This is not a sentence!" I don't recall if any of the comments read simply "Not a sentence!", but the irony would have been juicy. Also somewhat ironic is that these same teachers often also taught the "implied 'you' ", thus indicating the implied sentiment that implied subjects are kosher while implied verbs are not. Nonsense!

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220377#Comment_1220377

I think what chaps some grammarians is that in English we have many cases where a sentence consists of both an implied subject and an implied verb. Rather than recognize that is the case, they just declare "Not a sentence!" lol

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220378#Comment_1220378

some grammarians

You could also have fun trying to get them to conjugate with the auxiliary verb "get" ... as in "My coat got caught on the latch". Somehow, it seems to fly under the auxiliary verb round-up patrol. [8-|] I had a brother, 11 years older than me, who delighted in helping me catch out teachers -- especially in math.

Note get is sometimes acknowledged as an auxiliary verb as in "Auxiliary Verbs" in English Grammar | LanGeek

Brandon Stevens

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1220385#Comment_1220385

I have continued my diagram into vv. 5-6. There are a lot prepositional phrases. I believe “In love” “to adoption” “as sons and daughters” “through Jesus Christ” “to Himself,” “according to the good pleasure” “to the praise” are functioning adverbially and are modifying “predestined” as they answer the adverb questions “where?” And “how” (see diagram below)

I additionally diagramed “with which He favored us in the Beloved.” to show it modifying “of His grace,“ at it makes the most sense theologically (ie its through the Fathers grace that he has favoured us in Christ“