Talk:Article: 1 John 5:7 These three are one by Will Kinney

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Regarding the internal evidence, the following things are true, as corroborated by what is actually written in the Received Text.

A substantive is either a noun or a word or phrase that functions as a noun, such as a pronoun or a substantival (functioning as a noun) article or a substantival adjective or a substantival participle.

The gender of a noun is always predetermined by the grammatical gender of the noun (either neuter or masculine or feminine), which never changes.

As a rule, a substantive that is not a noun agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed (either neuter for a thing or things, or masculine for a person or persons, or feminine for a female person or female persons, or masculine for a person and thing or persons and things), as in Matthew 15:19-20, John 3:6, John 6:9, 1 John 2:16, 1 John 5:5, 1 John 5:7 and 1 John 5:8 in the Received Text, unless it is preceded by a single antecedent noun, in which case it agrees with the grammatical gender of the single preceding antecedent noun, as in John 5:39, 1 John 2:21 and 1 John 5:6 in the Received Text.

There are three exceptions to the rule.

1. A personal pronoun that is preceded by a single antecedent noun sometimes (rarely) agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed instead of agreeing with the grammatical gender of the single preceding antecedent noun, as in Mark 5:41 in the Received Text.

2. A substantival adjective that is not preceded by a single antecedent noun sometimes (rarely) agrees with the grammatical gender of the single noun that the adjective would have modified if the single noun had not been omitted instead of agreeing with the natural gender of the idea being expressed, as in Matthew 6:3 in the Received Text.

3. A relative pronoun or demonstrative pronoun can do any of three things.

a. It can agree with the grammatical gender of the single preceding antecedent noun (grammatical gender agreement), as in Galatians 5:19 (a relative pronoun) and John 5:39 (a demonstrative pronoun) in the Received Text.

b. It can agree with the natural gender of the idea being expressed (natural gender agreement / constructio ad sensum / construction according to sense), as in Galatians 3:16 (a relative pronoun) and Romans 2:14 (a demonstrative pronoun) in the Received Text.

c. It can agree with the grammatical gender of a single noun (referring to the same person or thing to which the pronoun refers) that is either located sided by side with the pronoun or connected to the pronoun by a linking verb (gender attraction), as in Ephesians 6:2 (a relative pronoun) and 1 John 5:14 (a demonstrative pronoun) in the Received Text.

Whenever appositive (added) nouns are added as modifiers to a substantive (not a noun) that is not preceded by a single antecedent noun, the substantive (not a noun and not preceded by a single antecedent noun) always agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed, and the grammatical genders of the appositive (added) nouns are always irrelevant, as in Matthew 23:23, 1 John 2:21, 1 John 5:7 and 1 John 5:8 in the Received Text.

Whenever an appositive (added) noun is added as a modifier to a substantive (not a noun) that is preceded by a single antecedent noun, the substantive (not a noun, but preceded by a single antecedent noun) always agrees with the grammatical gender of the single preceding antecedent noun, and the grammatical gender of the appositive (added) noun is always irrelevant, as in John 16:13 in the Received Text (the single preceding antecedent noun is in verse 16:7).

In order for an articular (having an article) participle to be an adjectival (functioning as an adjective) articular participle modifying a preceding single noun, the preceding single noun must immediately preceded the articular participle’s article (either article-noun-article-participle, or noun-article-participle), and the articular participle must agree in case, number and gender with the preceding single noun, as in John 5:2, John 6:51 and 1 John 5:4 in the Received Text.

In order for an articular participle to be an adjectival articular participle modifying a subsequent single noun, the subsequent single noun must be anarthrous (not having an article) (article-participle-noun), and the articular participle must agree in case, number and gender with the subsequent single noun, as in Matthew 2:7 and John 6:57 in the Received Text.

In order for an articular participle to be an adjectival articular participle modifying subsequent multiple nouns, the subsequent multiple nouns must be anarthrous (article-participle-noun-kai-noun-kai-noun), and the articular participle must agree in case, number and gender with the first anarthrous noun.

An article-participle-noun-kai-noun-kai-noun construction is an article-participle-noun construction with additional anarthrous nouns added to it. The articular participle modifies the first anarthrous noun, and it agrees in case, number and gender with the first anarthrous noun, the same as in an article-participle-noun construction, and the modification of the first anarthrous noun is extended to the additional anarthrous nouns.

There is no example of an article-participle-noun-kai-noun-kai-noun construction in the New Testament (Received Text). However, the secular (he does not refer to the Bible in any way) Greek grammarian Dr. Herbert Smyth (1857-1937) discusses this construction in sections 1018, 1019, 1030 and 1156 in his 1920 book, A Greek Grammar for Colleges.

If an articular participle is not connected to a preceding single noun in an article-noun-article-participle or noun-article-participle construction (1 John 5:6), and if it is not connected to a subsequent single noun in an article-participle-noun construction, and if it is not connected to subsequent multiple nouns in an article-participle-noun-kai-noun-kai-noun construction (1 John 5:7, 1 John 5:8), then it is not an adjectival articular participle modifying a single noun or multiple nouns, in which case it is a substantival articular participle (1 John 5:6, 1 John 5:7, 1 John 5:8), whose grammatical case is determined by its grammatical function in the clause (nominative for subject, accusative for direct object, and so forth).

A substantival articular participle that is preceded by a single antecedent noun always agrees with the grammatical gender of the single preceding antecedent noun, as in John 5:39 and 1 John 5:6 in the Received Text.

A substantival articular participle that is not preceded by a single antecedent noun always agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed, as in Matthew 15:19-20, John 3:6, 1 John 5:5, 1 John 5:7 and 1 John 5:8 in the Received Text.

If a substantival articular participle agrees with the grammatical gender of a single preceding antecedent noun (John 5:39, 1 John 5:6), but not with the grammatical genders of multiple preceding antecedent nouns (Matthew 15:19-20), and not with the grammatical gender of a single subsequent postcedent noun (John 3:6), then a substantival articular participle does not agree with the grammatical genders of multiple nouns (Matthew 15:19-20) or with the grammatical gender of a subsequent noun (John 3:6), in which case a substantival articular participle is certainly not going to agree with the grammatical genders of nouns that are both multiple and subsequent (1 John 5:7, 1 John 5:8).

Three appositive (added) nouns are added as modifiers to the verb's subject (not a noun and not preceded by a single antecedent noun) to provide additional information in 1 John 2:16, 1 John 5:7 and 1 John 5:8 in the Received Text, and the same thing always occurs in all three instances. The verb's subject (not a noun and not preceded by a single antecedent noun) always agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed, and the grammatical genders of the three appositive (added) nouns are always irrelevant.

(Received Text) 1 John 2:16 ... every the-thing [the subject / neuter for things because lust, lust and pride are three things] ... lust [feminine] ... lust [feminine] ... pride [feminine] ...

(Received Text) 1 John 5:7 ... the-ones bearing-witness [the subject / masculine for persons because the Father, Word and Spirit are three persons] ... Father [masculine] ... Word [masculine] ... Spirit [neuter] ...

(Received Text) 1 John 5:8 ... the-ones bearing-witness [the subject / masculine for a person and things because the Spirit, water and Blood are a person and two things] ... Spirit [neuter] ... water [neuter] ... Blood [neuter] ...

OR

(Received Text) 1 John 5:8 ... the-ones bearing-witness [the subject / masculine for persons because the men in the witness of the men, to whom the Spirit, water and Blood are being compared, are three persons] ... Spirit [neuter] ... water [neuter] ... Blood [neuter] ... 9 ... the witness of-the men we-accept ...

We know that agreement with the grammatical genders of the three appositive (added) nouns does not occur in 1 John 5:7 and that it is not supposed to occur (and does not occur) in 1 John 5:8 because it does not occur in the same grammatical construction in 1 John 2:16. The fact that it does not occur in 1 John 2:16 proves that it does not occur in 1 John 5:7 and that it is not supposed to occur (and does not occur) in 1 John 5:8. The claim that it occurs in 1 John 5:7 and that it is supposed to occur in 1 John 5:8 is refuted by the fact that it does not occur in 1 John 2:16.

The fact that there is no rule of syntax that whenever a substantive refers to a group of grammatically masculine and neuter multiple nouns, the substantive is always masculine and the natural gender of the idea being expresses is always irrelevant, is proven by a comparison of John 6:9 and 1 John 5:7 in the Received Text.

(Received Text) John 6:9 ... loaves [masculine] ... fish [neuter] ... these-things [neuter for things because loaves and fish are things] ...

(Received Text) 1 John 5:7 ... the-ones bearing-witness [masculine for persons because the Father, Word and Spirit are three persons] ... Father [masculine] ... Word [masculine] ... Spirit [neuter] ...

A substantive refers to a group of grammatically masculine and neuter multiple nouns both in John 6:9 and in 1 John 5:7, and the same thing occurs in both instances. The substantive agrees with the natural gender of the idea being expressed, and the grammatical genders of the grammatically masculine and neuter multiple nouns are irrelevant.

If there were such a rule of syntax, then the subject would be masculine both in John 6:9 and in 1 John 5:7 instead of being neuter for things in John 6:9 and masculine for persons in 1 John 5:7.

Thus, any claim that there is such a rule of syntax is refuted by a comparison of John 6:9 and 1 John 5:7 in the Received Text, just as any claim that agreement with the grammatical genders of the appositive (added) nouns does occur in 1 John 5:7 and should occur in 1 John 5:8 is refuted by a comparison of 1 John 2:16, 1 John 5:7 and 1 John 5:8 in the Received Text.

The false claims of Nolan on pages 257, 260 and 565 in his 1815 book, An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, and those same false claims expressed by Dabney on page 221 in his 1871 article, The Doctrinal Various Readings of the New Testament Greek, which is a review of Nolan's 1815 book, are refuted by all of the New Testament (Received Text) examples shown above.

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