PREPOSITIONS. The expositor must take particular notice of certain
is a noun. The regular order is found, for example, in Deut. 4:35, "Jehovah (He) is God." But in Gen. 12:13 the author departs from the usual arrangement: "Say, I pray thee, my sister thou art." Here the predicate is made emphatic.
But the Hebrew language has still more effective means of expressing emphasis. The function of the infinitive absolute in this respect is so well known as to need no illustration. The greatest prominence is given to a substantive by permitting it to stand, absolutely, at the beginning of the sentence, and then representing it, in its proper place, by a pronoun. Cf. Gen. 47:21: "… the people, he removed them" and Ps. 18:3: "God, … perfect is his way." Sometimes an idea is first expressed by a pronoun, and then resumed by a noun, as in Jos. 1:2, "… the land which I give to them, the children of Israel."
Similar principles apply in the interpretation of the New Testament. In the Greek language, the subject with its modifiers ordinarily occupies the first place: it is followed by the predicate with its adjuncts. The object generally follows the verb: an adjective, the substantive to which it belongs; and a genitive, its governing noun. If the order is changed, it means, in all probability, that some word is made emphatic. This is clearly the case, where the predicate stands first, as in Rom. 8:18, "… that not worthy are the sufferings of the present time." Cf. also Matt. 5:3–11; 2 Tim. 2:11. For the same purpose, the object is sometimes placed in the foreground, as in Luke 16:11, "… the true (riches) who commit to your trust?" Cf. also John 9:31; Rom. 14:1. Again, the same end is served by placing a genitive before its governing noun, or an attributive adjective before the substantive to which it belongs. Thus we read in Rom. 11:13: "I am of gentiles an apostle." Cf. also Rom. 12:19; Heb. 6:16. And in Matt. 7:13, the admonition reads: "Enter ye in at the strait (adj. first) gate."
3. THE SPECIAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE CASES AND THE PREPOSITIONS. The expositor must take particular notice of certain combinations of words, such as prepositional phrases, and phrases in which a genitive or dative occurs. Questions such as the following
must be answered: Is the genitive in Ezekiel 12:19, "… the violence of all who are dwelling in it," a subjective or an objective genitive? How about that in Obadiah, verse 10, "… the violence of thy brother Jacob"; and that in Gen. 18:20, "… the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah"? What kind of a genitive have we in Isa. 37:22, "… the virgin of the daughter of Zion"? Are the following genitives subjective or objective: John 5:42, "the love of God"; Phil. 4:7, "the peace of God"; and Rom. 4:13, "the righteousness of faith"? How should those in Rom. 8:23, "the firstfruits of the Spirit," and in Rev. 2:10 "a crown of life," be interpreted? The dative may also give rise to several questions. A few examples must suffice. Is the dative in Rom. 8:24, "for in (or, by) hope we are saved," modal or instrumental? Must the dative found in Phil. 1:27, "… striving together for (or, by) the faith of the gospel," be regarded as a dative commodi or instrumentalist?
Prepositional phrases may also raise important questions. The special meaning of some prepositions depends on the case with which they are used. Moreover, there are some prepositions that have a similar meaning, and yet reveal characteristic differences. The interpreter cannot afford to neglect these fine distinctions. Since the preposition occupies a far more important place in the Greek than in the Hebrew language, we limit ourselves to New Testament examples. In 1 Cor. 15:15 we read: "And we are also found false witnesses, because we did testify of (Gr., kata) God, that He raised up Christ …" Is the rendering "of" correct, or should it be "against" (Meyer), or "by" as in Matt. 26:63? What is the meaning of the same preposition in Rom. 8:27, "kata theon"; and in Heb. 11:13, "These all died in (kata) faith"? Should the last passage read, "in" or "according to," or "conformably to faith"? (As many commentators say). What does the preposition apo mean in Heb. 5:7, "and was heard apo fear"? Should it be rendered "out of" i.e., "heard, delivering him out of fear" (constructio praegnans); or is it better to translate, "… in respect to what he feared"; or still different, "… on account of godly fear"? How should en be interpreted in the phrase, "in Christ," (Rom. 8:2 Gal. 1:22 2:17); and eis in the expression, "in the name," (Matt. 28:19)? Are eis and en used interchangeably, or do they always differ