Prepositions

Prepositions are extremely common in the New Testament. The fifteen presented in this lesson occur more than 10,000 times in the Greek New Testament. In this chapter, we will learn the English definitions of Greek prepositions and how they function in a sentence.

Greek prepositions are similar in function to English prepositions, but they also have some differences. As you will soon discover, Greek prepositions require their objects to be in certain cases. For example, the preposition ἀπό is always followed by a noun or pronoun in the genitive case. There are hundreds of examples of this construction in the New Testament. Yet, in reading Rev 1:4, we encounter a strange deviation from this grammatical pattern:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come (ἀπὸ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος), and from the seven spirits (ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων) who are before his throne. (ESV)

There are two instances of the preposition ἀπό in this verse. The second one, as expected, is followed by a genitive object (τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων). The first instance of ἀπό, however, is followed by three nominative forms (ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος). Even though you don’t yet know all the constructions in this compound object, you can see the repeated nominative article (ὁ … ὁ … ὁ); ἀπό followed by the nominative. Why does John do this? A number of explanations have been given:

1. Perhaps within the broad colloquial usage of Koine Greek, John’s deviations from dominant grammatical patterns would not have been that unusual—just as spellings varied greatly in early American history, even among educated authors.

2. John frequently does vary from standard grammatical usage, and some New Testament scholars think he does so to aid his readers in hearing echoes of Old Testament text. In Rev 1:4, the apostle John is clearly intending his readers to hear an echo of God’s self-revelation in Exod 3:14, where the voice from the burning bush identifies himself to Moses as ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν (“I Am Who I Am”) [ESV]. Note how the two bold words in the Greek text of Exod 3:14 are repeated exactly in Rev 1:4—aiding readers in hearing this allusion.

3. From a theological standpoint, is it significant that God’s majestic revelation of himself appears unchanged after the preposition? Could John’s breaking a grammatical pattern be a subtle way of asserting the unchangeability of God—the One who is and was and is to come … the eternal, immutable One?

A preposition is a word used with a noun or pronoun to clarify that noun’s or pronoun’s relationship to another word or words in a sentence. This relationship is often spatial, but it can also be temporal or even logical. For example, if someone states, “The apple is on the desk,” the preposition “on” expresses a spatial relationship of the apple to the desk. The term “desk” is the object of the preposition, and the entire construction (“on the desk”) is considered a prepositional phrase. Other prepositional phrases may express a temporal idea (“on the third day”) or a logical relationship (“for honor”).

Unlike English, in Greek, the meaning of a preposition can sometimes change depending on the case of its object. For example, διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ means “through the temple” because τοῦ ἱεροῦ is in the genitive case. If the phrase was in the accusative case (διὰ τὸ ἱερόν), it would mean “because of the temple.” Thus, it is important to pay attention to the case of the preposition’s object.

Not all prepositions take their objects in multiple cases. Some prepositions will require their objects to always be in the same case, whereas others can be used with two cases and still others with three.

Note that a two-case preposition always occurs with the genitive and accusative cases (and not the genitive and dative or dative and accusative). Furthermore, the nominative case is never used as the object of a preposition (except in Rev 1:4 as noted above).

When translating prepositional phrases, it is not necessary to add “of” for genitive nouns or “to/for” for dative nouns since the preposition takes the place of such terms. For example, the phrase ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκίας (Luke 7:6) is translated “from the house” and not “from of the house.”

It should also be noted that prepositions often have a broad range of meaning and cannot be limited to one or two glosses. In fact, some Greek prepositions could accurately be rendered in various contexts with more than a dozen different English terms. Thus, it is often important to use a reliable lexicon and realize that the glosses learned in the vocabulary lists are just a starting place. Context is the determining factor for accurately translating prepositions.

Sometimes the form of the preposition will alter depending on the beginning letter of the word that immediately follows. For example, the preposition ἐκ has a kappa when followed by a word that begins with a consonant, but becomes ἐξ when the following word begins with a vowel.

Additionally, most prepositions that end with a vowel drop their final vowel when the following word begins with a vowel.

Note that the place where the letter dropped out is marked with an apostrophe. This is called elision. Also note that these prepositions lose their accent and are pronounced with the following word. If an elided preposition’s final letter is pi (π) or tau (τ) and the following word’s vowel has a rough breathing mark, the consonant of the elided preposition is changed to its aspirated form: φ or θ.

Here is a summary of the variations that can occur with the prepositions in this chapter:

When prepositions are prefixed to verbs (see below), their spellings are sometimes slightly altered for ease of pronunciation (i.e., euphony). For example, σύν can be spelled συμ-, συλ-, or συγ-, and ἐν can be spelled ἐμ-.

Some prepositions can be found prefixed to verbs, known as compound verbs. For example, the verb ἐκβάλλω is made up of the preposition ἐκ plus the verb βάλλω. All of the prepositions in this chapter (except ἐνώπιον, “before, in the presence of”) can be prefixed to verbs. Such prepositions are called proper prepositions. An improper preposition, on the other hand, is the technical term for one that is never prefixed to a verb.

When a preposition is added to a verb, it can have one of four possible effects: (1) the meaning of both the verb and the preposition are preserved; (2) the meaning of the verb is intensified; (3) the verb experiences no additional change in meaning; or (4) the meaning of the verb is changed but is not noticeably related to the preposition’s meaning.

We must also note that compound verbs are augmented after the prepositional prefix (ἐπερωτάω → ἐπηρώτων). This rule impacts the following verbs learned thus far: ἀποκρίνομαι, ἐπερωτάω, παρακαλέω, περιπατέω, and ὑπάγω. With two of these, the prepositional prefix has dropped its final vowel because the stem of the verb begins with a vowel: ἐπερωτάω (ἐπί + ἐρωτάω) and ὑπάγω (ὑπό + ἄγω). When the preposition ends with a vowel (and the stem of the verb begins with a consonant), that vowel is usually replaced by the augment (παρακαλέω → παρεκάλει). Finally, when the preposition ends with an iota (ι), that ending vowel is retained when the augment is added (περιπατέω → περιεπάτει).

Prepositional phrases have two main uses: (1) adverbial and (2) adjectival. Most prepositional phrases are adverbial; as such, they modify the verbal idea by answering a question (where? when? how? or why?). For example, “[he] went out of the temple (ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ)” (John 8:59). The prepositional phrase (“out of the temple”) describes where the verbal idea (“[he] went”) occurs.

Adjectival prepositional phrases are much less common than adverbial ones and modify a noun (or other substantive) by answering the question “which?” or “what kind of?” For example, in the expression “the glory that comes from the only God” (τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ; John 5:44), the prepositional phrase (παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ) modifies the noun “glory” (δόξαν). The repetition of the article before the prepositional phrase grammatically links the prepositional phrase, causing it to function as a giant adjective. Simply put, the Greek phrase essentially reads this way: “the which-is-from-the-only-God glory.” In English, we need to smooth this out by using a relative clause (“the glory that comes from the only God”).

It is also possible for the prepositional phrase to function as a noun (substantival use). In this construction, the phrase follows the article but there is no noun in the immediate context that it is modifying. Oftentimes the article will be a neuter plural form (τά). For example, in 1 John 2:15 we read, “Do not love the world or the things in the world (τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ).” In the phrase τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, the article (τά) governs the prepositional phrase, making it a virtual noun. Again, this could woodenly be translated, “the in-the-world things.” The word “things” is added because the article is neuter and plural.

Prepositions that are prefixed to verbs are often repeated afterwards as a matter of common stylistic convention—not for emphasis. For example, πῦρ ἐκπορεύεται ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν (“fire comes from their mouths”; Rev 11:5). Also, nouns and adjectives that follow prepositions are often considered definite—even if they do not have an article. For example, ἀπὸ κυρίου is translated “from the Lord” (Col 3:24). In other words, definite objects of prepositions frequently lack the article. How do you know, then, whether the object of a preposition is definite (“the Lord”) or indefinite (“a lord”)? Context will usually clarify.

Finally, prepositions were on the rise during the Koine period. Although it is possible to communicate relationship via case-endings alone, a preposition makes the relationship more explicit. For example, to communicate “on the third day,” a dative case-ending could be used (τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ). It is arguably less ambiguous, however, to use a preposition (ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ).

A. Cases and Meaning: Identify the case(s) that can be used in construction with the following prepositions. Then provide a possible gloss for the preposition for each case.

1. ὑπέρ

2. ὑπό

3. ἐκ

4. περί

5. σύν

6. κατά

7. ἐν

8. ἀπό

9. πρός

10. εἰς

11. διά

12. ἐπί

13. μετά

14. παρά

B. Form Variations: Identify the lexical form of the following.

1. ἐφ᾽

2. παρ᾽

3. καθ᾽

4. ἐξ

5. ὑφ᾽

6. μετ᾽

7. δι᾽

8. ἀφ᾽

9. κατ᾽

10. ἐπ᾽

C. Translation: Translate the following sentences.

1. καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς οἶκον (a house) (Mark 3:20).

2. καὶ ἦν παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν (lake) (Mark 5:21).

3. οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ (John 17:9).

4. μετὰ τρεῖς (three) ἡμέρας ἐγείρομαι (Matt 27:63).

5. ἐζήτουν κατὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαρτυρίαν (testimony) (Mark 14:55).

6. σὺ πιστεύεις εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; (John 9:35).

7. καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ (him) ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ (river) (Mark 1:5).

8. εἰρήνην ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν (our) Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Rom 5:1).

9. οὐκ ἔστιν μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον (teacher) οὐδὲ (nor) δοῦλος ὑπὲρ τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ (his) (Matt 10:24).

10. Ἰησοῦς ἐξῆλθεν (went out) σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ (his) (John 18:1).

11. τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον [I became] ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον (1 Cor 9:20).

12. δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις (highest) θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις (Luke 2:14).

13. χάρις (grace) ὑμῖν (to you) καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς (father) ἡμῶν (our) καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Rom 1:7).

14. οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς (father) ἐν αὐτῷ (him) (1 John 2:15).

D. Translation: Translate the following sentences into Greek.

1. They know the gospel according to the disciples.

2. We are received by God because of Christ.

3. The children are coming toward the crowd.

4. The angel was speaking upon the earth.

5. The men of peace believe in the truth from the heart.