Journal: Grace Theological Journal
Volume: GTJ 10:2 (Fall 1989)
Article: Noun Clauses in the Greek New Testament: A Statistical Study
Author: James L. Boyer

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GTJ 10:2 (Fall 89) p. 225

Noun Clauses in the Greek New Testament:
A Statistical Study

James L. Boyer

This second in a series of studies dealing with subordinate clauses in the Greek NT will look at noun clauses which are introduced by conjunctions. They will be classified as to the function they fill in the sentence and statistical counts will be given for each group. The structure of the noun clauses will be explored, summarizing the conjunctions used and the moods employed with each. Alternative forms of noun clauses will be examined.

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Introduction

Subordinate clauses in the Greek NT structurally are of two main groups, those introduced by relative words and those introduced by conjunctions. We have previously looked at the relative clauses1 and found that 473 or 28% of them functioned as noun clauses. In this article we begin our study of clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions. Of these, 1220 function as noun clauses, the largest category of all the subordinate clauses.

Several designations are used for this type of clause. Simplest is the term “Noun Clause”, the one that will be used in this paper. It indicates a clause which functions in the sentence as a noun, and can be used almost anywhere a noun can; usually as subject or object of the verb. Other designations are “Nominal” or “Substantival”, with no distinction in meaning.

Classification according to Noun Function

This classification of noun clauses is based on what functional part of the sentence is filled by the clause. Noun clauses are used in

GTJ 10:2 (Fall 89) p. 226

three primary ways; they are either subject, or object, or epexegetic, with sub-classifications based on the structure of each. It should be noted that in this matter they conform to a pattern similar to that found in the use of the verbal noun-substitute, the infinitive.2

Noun Clause as Subject of Sentence

In these sentences the clausal subject always stands after the verb in Greek, as it usually does also in English, except that there is in Greek no equivalent to the English “it” which stands before as a sign of the delayed subject. This English structure is a most natural one to translate these Greek sentences. Example: 1 Cor 4:3 ἐμοὶ δὲ εἰς ἐλάχιστόν ἐστιν, ἵνα ὑφ᾿ ὑμῶν ἀνακριθῶ, “But to me it is a verv small thing that I should be examined by you.”

Subject of Copulative Verb, Εἰμί

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