Regarding Colossians 3: Why is there a variance between Bible translations, with some, such as Darby's and the NWT saying "the Christ" and others saying "Christ?"
Justitia
Bible Scholar--Christ v. the Christ
by Justitia Themis 7 Replies latest watchtower bible
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greendawn
Does it matter whether one says "Christ" or "the Christ" I can't see the difference from the point of view of grammar though "the Christ" emphasises his uniqueness.
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Arthur
I've always seen it as an insignificant grammatical difference. In my opinion; it is similar to someone refering to Jesus as either "Master" or "the Master".
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Narkissos
Which verse are you referring to?
The syntax of the article varies greatly from one language to another; in Greek its presence or absence with Khristos seems to be mostly stylistical. In French we use the article with Christ almost systematically (only a few isolated protestant subcultures say "Christ," and this may be traceable to an English or German influence).
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moggy lover
As Greendawn has pointed out above, there is a subtle nuance of NT Greek grammar that is brought out in the use of the Article with such words as "Lord" and "Christ" and "devil"
Prof Daniel Wallace in his book "Greek Grammar beyond the Basics" [pgs 224-227, in the chapter The Article, its Origin, Functions and Uses"] points out to a usage of the article that is called in grammical parlance, the "Monadic" usage. The word Monadic means "one of a kind" or "unique" and conveys to the reader a perspective regarding the subject matter that the writer is referring to.
For instance, where "the sun" and "the moon" are referred to at Mar 13:4, it is the writer's contention that what he is referring to are unique heavenly bodies that need our attention.This in contrast to the more generalized statement where "sun" without the article is mentioned at such places as 1Cor 15:41, and Rev 22:5
Similarly, when the NT speaks of "Christ Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" it is attempting to identify for us a person with that particular name and title. When however it talks of "The Christ" it is not only identifying the person for us, but is also conveying to us the idea that though there may be several who will come along and call themselves"Christ" - Jesus Himself is unique.
This monadic use is also applicable to the word "diabolos" meaning devil. Contrast Acts 13:10, which does'nt have the article, with, say, Matt 4:1 which does possess the article. The NWT renders both passages with the expression "The Devil"
Col 3 uses the word "Christos" 8 times [Vs 1, 1, 3, 4, 11, 15, 16, 24] and the art is used 6 times, the exceptions where the art is missing are: vss 11 and 24.
The difference in both usages are a semantic nuance only, since both refer to the same Person we know as The Lord Jesus Christ.
Of the 60 odd times the expression "ho Christos" occurs, the NWT has rendered this as "The Christ" quite regularly -except on two occasions: Rev 11:15, 12:10. [Compare the Greek/English text of the KIT with the text of the NWT
Hope this helps
Cheers
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Philippus79
As far as I'm aware of, the use of the articel specifies the reference to "Jesus Christ of Nazarite". The word "christos" only means "annointed [one]". And there are many annointed people. "The Christ" is the "christos" we all know.
As an aside: Isn't the theme of this year's DC "Follow the Christ"?
Philipp
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Narkissos
Cf. Grundmann in TDNT IX, p. 540 (referring to Blass-Debrunner § 253f, 259):
Khristos occurs in Paul in the abs., sometimes with art. ho Khristos sometimes without art. Khristos. In genitive constructions, which are common with Christ, the article of the related term carries with it the article of the genitive: tou Khristou, whereas absence of the preceding article means absence of the article: Christou, e.g. ouk oidate hoti ta sômata humôn melè Christou estin; aras oun ta melè tou Christou poièsô pornès melè? (1 C 6:15...). One may conclude from this that Khristos means the same whether with the article or without it. Since proper names are used with the article (e.g., Mk 15:43-45; Lk 23:25), Khristos with the article can have the same sense as Khristos without it. In the vocabulary of older Greek speaking Christianity Khristos is one of those words which can be used both with and without the article. Use of the article does not help us to decide when Khristos is a title and when it is a name. The uniqueness of the One of whom it is used is in any case expressed. Whether Paul says ho Khristos or Khristos he has this uniqueness in view...
(His main point being that Khristos functions chiefly although not exclusively as a second name rather than a title in Pauline literature.)
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Justitia Themis
Thanks for the responses everyone.
Justitia