The Greek Definite Article is not used in the same way as the English Definite Article.
The Greek Definite Article is not used in the same way as the English Definite Article.
Definite articles are not used the same way in Greek as they are in English. There is NO Bible translation out there I am aware of that always translates the Greek definite articles, nor should they always be translated.
Here's a quote from Dana and Mantey's "A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament", p. 150-151. "It is important to bear in mind that we cannot determine the English translation by the presence or absence of the article in Greek. Sometimes we should use the article in the English translation when it is not used in the Greek, and sometimes the idiomatic force of the Greek article may best be rendered by an anarthrous noun in English."
The Definite Article in Greek
Does the KJV fail to translate the Greek article properly?
It is often alleged that the KJV erroneously translates the Greek definite article (ο, η, τό) as an English indefinite article (a, an). An example is in Matthew 5:1: “he went up into a mountain.” The Greek says, “ανεβη εις το ορος,” which has the definite article “το” preceding “mountain (ορος).”
The KJV is not in error. The definite article in Greek can function as a categorical article having a qualitative force (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics at 228), in which case the English indefinite article would be a valid translation.
As with Greek, the English definite article (the) can also be used to determine the category and nothing more. For example, we might say “On sunny days, people go to the beach.”
Despite the definite article - “the beach” - no specific beach is implied. Thus we are actually saying, “On sunny days, people go to a beach.” “The beach” is a categorical determination, not a determination of a specific beach.
The definite article’s purpose is only to determine the specific category, and not to determine the specific thing in the category.
Likewise, when Matthew 5:1 says, “ανεβη εις το ορος,” “το” can be translated with the English indefinite article, signifying that the category of the location was a mountain as opposed to something else (e.g. town, beach). The NIV, which attempts to convey the sense of the passage, agrees with the KJV and reads, “he went up on a mountainside.”
So also read Tyndale 1524, Coverdale 1535, The Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Bishops’ Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1587, The Beza N.T. 1599, Whiston’s N.T. 1745, Living Oracles N.T. 1835, The Pickering N.T. 1840, Rotherham’s Emphasized bible 1902, The NKJV 1982, God’s Word Translation 1995, Worldwide English N.T. 1998, The Koster Scriptures 1998, God’s First Truth 1999, The Tomson N.T. 2002, The Resurrection Life N.T. 2005, The Common English Bible 2011, Names of God Bible 2011, The Work of God’s Children bible 2011, The Voice 2012, The Far Above All Translation 2014, The Hebrew Names Version 2014, The Translator’s Bible 2014, The Modern English Version 2014 and The New Matthew Bible 2016.
Not even the Holy Ghost Himself, Who inspired the Scriptures, uses the definite articles in such a precise and consistent manner as the King James Bible critics assume.
Many times in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, when the same exact events are being related, sometimes the definite articles are used in the one but not in the other.
For example - In Matthew 17:1 we read “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart.”If we were to put the definite articles in this verse it would read: “Then after six days THE Jesus taketh THE Peter, and James and John and THE brother of him and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.”Yet in Mark the exact same even is recorded as: “After six days THE Jesus taketh THE Peter, THE James and (THE - Critical text) John and leadeth them up into an high mountain...”But the same event in Luke 9:28 is recorded in the Greek texts as: “he took Peter and John and James and went up to THE mountain to pray.” Not one of these three inspired recordings of the same event consistently uses the definite articles in the same places and hardly any Bible translation in any language even puts them into their translation.
There are many other examples of this type of thing, but one is found in Ephesians 3:11. Here we read in every Bible translation I looked at (ASV, NASB, NKJV, NIV, ESV, Holman and even Young's) "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Yet the "literal Greek" with the definite articles would be "...which he purposed in THE Christ Jesus THE Lord of us."
Here are some more examples of how the definite article is sometimes “in the Greek” but not translated, and where the definite article is NOT “in the Greek” but it is put in the translation. This is true of virtually all Bible translations.
The Greek Definite ArticleLet’s take a look at the ESV 2001 edition and see how they handle the definite articles in Greek and how they translate them or not into English. This is typical of all bible translations.The letters DA will indicate a place where the definite article appears in the Greek text followed by the ESV (a Critical text edition) but they did NOT translate it; and THE in capital letters will indicate where there is NO definite article in the Greek text, yet the ESV translators put it in their English translation.Let’s simply look at just one chapter in the gospels - Matthew chapter 2.The ESV2:1 “Now after DA Jesus was born in Bethlehem of DA Judea, in THE days of Herod the king, behold wise men from THE east came to Jerusalem, 2:2 saying, “Where is he DA born king of the Jews? For we have seen DA his star in DA (Literally "the east") when it rose (paraphrase) and have come to worship him. 2:5 DA they told him in Bethlehem of DA Judea2:6 And you Bethlehem, in THE land of Judea...who will shepherd DA my people DA Israel.2:9 After DA listening...the star that they had seen when DA it rose (paraphrase)..to rest over THE place where the child was.2:11 the saw the child with DA his mother Mary...and opening DA their treasures2:12 they departed to DA their own country by another way.2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, and angel of THE Lord appeared to DA Joseph...take the child and DA his mother...Herod is about to search for the child DA to destroy him.2:15 to fulfill what THE Lord had spoken2:16 killed all the male children DA in Bethlehem 2:18 Rachel weeping for DA her children2:19 But when DA Herod died, behold, an angel of THE Lord appeared in a dream to DA Joseph..2:20 take the child and DA his mother and go to THE land of Israel2:21 and he arose and took the child and DA his mother and went to THE land of Israel.2:22 heard that Archelaus was reigning over DA Judea in place of DA his father Herod...the district of DA Galilee.
If your pastor or Bible teacher starts “correcting” your King James Bible with his schoolboy “the Greek really says” mumbo jumbo, get yourself a different pastor.
All of grace, believing the Book - the King James Holy Bible.
Will Kinney