10. The Law of Grammatical Construction

The Law of Grammatical Construction

Chapter 9

Grammar is the science of correct language. It has to do with the accuracy of individual words, and their proper usage, and their arrangement in sentences, and articulation into the body of discourse. As in any organic structure perfection depends on minute mutual adaptation of all parts, so, in all speech, the exact expression and conveyance of thought and meaning depend on the right choice and place of every word, even to the smallest particle, and the right relation of every member of a sentence to all the rest. The Scriptures, being a form of sacred literature, need to be interpreted, in part, by literary methods though not exclusively as if they were a merely human product. They need to be examined in the following ways:

1. Structurally—to find out how the body of divine truth is framed and fitted together; of what parts composed, how those parts are combined, and what is their mutual relation and bearing upon the whole result.

2. Philologically—with reference to the three or four original languages in which the Bible was written or which mold its forms of speech, the Hebrew and Chaldaic, Greek and Aramaic with the peculiarities of each.

3. Historically, with relation to the times and places, persons and events connected with its preparation, and the effect of temporal circumstances and conditions upon its character as a book and its mission to mankind.

4. Spiritually, as a book of salvation, pre-eminently, and a revelation of God in His essential character, and dealings with the human race, all else being incidental and subordinate. With such fundamental principles kept in view, Scripture studies cannot be too minute and critical, and will only discover more and more the consistency of the Word of God with itself and its Divine Author. A general orderly arrangement is everywhere manifest in this inspired book. “Order is Heaven’s first law,” wrote the poet Pope, and this law pervades all God’s handiwork. In hundreds of instances, the order is part of the inspiration, and therefore inviolable, to be reverently regarded as conveying an integral part of the lesson to be learned. The succession of thoughts, words and deeds is often also a progression of procession, in which there is constant advance toward a complete unfolding of some truth, even the order being tributary to the purpose in view. The whole grammatical and rhetorical arrangement of inspired utterances is therefore to be held as sacred, keeping asunder what God has not joined, and what He has joined not putting asunder.

Some of these laws and principles, in the grammatical sphere, we are now about to illustrate.

Inspiration covers grammar, for it controls the exact forms of language in which God expresses Himself. In the Word of God we are taught that we must not disregard or change anything or count it as of no consequence. This will appear if the following passages are carefully compared:

Hebrews 12:27, Galatians 4:9, John 8:58, John 10:34-36, Matthew 23:37, Galatians 3:16, Matthew 5:18.

If these passages are examined it will be seen how important is a single phrase, for in the first quotation the argument turns on one phrase, “Yet once more;” in the second, on the passive, rather than the active voice of a verb; in the third, on the present, rather than the past tense; and in the fourth, on the mood of a verb; in the fifth, on the inviolability of a single word; in the sixth, on the singular number rather than the plural of a noun; and in the last, on the retention of a single letter, and that the smallest in the Hebrew alphabet, and even a little stroke or mark used to distinguish one letter from another. Taken together, these Scripture utterances so guard the Word of God that they forbid the alteration or omission of a phrase or word, the change of voice, mood or tense in a verb, or the number of a noun, or even a letter or stroke of a letter. The Jews showed a jealousy for even the letter of Scripture that we, Christian believers, might well emulate and imitate. They found in every detail a significance, and copyists sought to make the Old Testament manuscripts exhibit the sense which devout scribes thought they had detected, as in the use of majascula, or larger letters at times, as in Deuteronomy 6:4, which we shall refer to later. The Massorites, so-called, so critically examined the text of the Old Testament, that they marked not only its divisions, but its grammatical forms, letters, vowels, accents, etc. They counted words and even letters and recorded the numbers at the end of each book, enumerating in the Pentateuch, for example, 18 greater, and 43 smaller portions; 1,534 verses, 63,467 words, 70,100 letters, etc. While much of their work was elaborate and minute, and led to fanciful notions and interpretations, it served two great ends: first, to detect most minute peculiarities in the Holy Writings, which otherwise would escape careless readers: and to preserve the original Scriptures in their purity by making alterations impossible without detection.

Grammar teaches us to examine closely the exact meaning of words.

Take the word, “watch” found in the New Testament twenty-seven times as applied to spiritual vigilance, and being the equivalent of three Greek words (agrupnēo, grēgoreo and nēpho). The first means to abstain from sleep, to keep awake; the second, to arouse oneself, and shake off lethargy, a stronger word, implying activity as on the part of one who is fully awake; the third means to abstain from drink which produces stupor as well as sleep, and therefore conveys the additional idea of sobriety—keeping sober as well as awake. Only as all these meanings are combined do we get the full force of the Scripture exhortations to watchfulness. We are not only to keep awake, but to keep active, and in order to both, to keep sober minded, avoiding the intoxication of this world’s seductive pleasures. Here grammatical study not only reveals the exact force of Scripture language but the moral and spiritual lesson to be conveyed.

Another very important grammatical feature is emphasis. Both in the Hebrew and Greek tongues the stress upon a word is indicated by its place in the sentence and some other signs of comparative prominence. Context and circumstances so often guide to correct emphasis that they should be regarded as necessary to exposition, as when our Lord contrasting earlier and imperfect teachers with Himself, says:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time: But I say unto you.”

Here the obvious emphasis is on the first personal pronoun, “I.” And so when contrasting the worldly spirit of Pharisees, seeking human applause, with the true worshipper doing his alms and offering prayers to the unseen God, He says:

“They have their reward; but He shall reward thee,” it is equally plain that the emphasis lies upon the present and future tenses.

Sometimes emphasis is determined by idiom, but this again demands special study of idiomatic forms of speech.

Few readers have any proper conception of the importance and significance of emphasis upon which the entire meaning often hinges. The order of words will often either obscure or reveal the sense. In the original of Matthew 27:47, the words stand thus: “Elias calleth this man,” but, when the cases of the nouns are examined it becomes plain that the grammar changes the order and emphasis: “This man calleth Elias.”

Again in Job 29:15, the obvious emphasis is on the merciful ministries performed by Job himself who is accused of wrong-doing: “Eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, became I.” In Isaiah 53:4-6, the constant stress is upon “our griefs,” “sorrows,” “transgressions,” “iniquities.” He was not suffering for Himself but for us: the contrast is between “we”and “Him.” So important is this department of biblical study that Mr. Rotherham, the brilliant English scholar, has given many years to the preparation of an “emphasized” version in which he seeks to express and exhibit, by parallelism, arrangement and position of words, corresponding English idioms, and italics or capitals, the emphatic words in every sentence of both Testaments—and we must refer the reader to this colossal work of learning and painstaking care and ingenuity for further hints upon this engrossing subject. He shows in his introductory chapter, “Concerning Emphasis,” how by position, repetition, formal expression, etc., the very word or words may be discovered upon which the Divine Revealer of truth would have the stress fall, and how we may thus discern the special point where the lesson is most to be found. Examples of this will frequently recur as we proceed to examine other laws and principles of Bible study: but we have here called attention to this matter as inseparable from the grammatical study of the Word. A very important principle in grammatical structure is the relation of primary to secondary members of a sentence. For example, the imperative and the participle. Where in any injunction, an imperative is found with participles, the former represents the main thought and the participles the subordinate one, the latter often suggesting the means or helps to the carrying out of the main injunction. For this reason it is to be regretted that the tenses and words of the original are not always faithfully reproduced in translation. A conspicuous example both of the principle advocated and the disregard of it in translation is found in 1 Peter 1:13-16. Here there are three imperatives and three participles:

Here are two injunctions “Hope to the End,” and “Be Ye Holy,” and the participles indicate how the commands are to be obeyed; by disentangling the affections from worldly objects, by maintaining a holy sobriety and control over the flesh; and by keeping before us the divine model of holiness. It is more than a pity that such a homiletic and practical outline should be obscured by not adhering to the grammatical form of the original.

Another instance, where however the structure is preserved, in Jude 1:20-21.

In other words, if we would be kept by God from stumbling, we must keep ourselves in His Love; and, to keep ourselves in His Love, we need to make ourselves more and more familiar with His Word and its teachings; to maintain habits of intimate prayer-fellowship; and to fix our gaze upon the great future reappearing of the Lord.

Similar instances of the relation of imperative and participle may be found in Matthew 28:19-20 :

Here the main thing is making disciples—the rest indicates how to train disciples as witnesses, and edify them as believers.

Again in James 5:14-15 :
“Let him call for the Elders,
And let them pray over him;” “Anointing him with oil.” The prayer of faith is the main thing—the anointing with oil, a subsidiary, symbolic form. How different would be the impression of this passage if it read, “Let them anoint him with oil, praying over him,” etc.

Thus we have found grammatical study to serve a manifold end: first to show the construction of a sentence; then, the exact meaning of words, and the reason for their precise form, declension, conjugation, etc.; then their proper arrangement and comparative prominence; and finally the relation of the primary and secondary clauses, or the principal and subordinate members of a sentence. All this is but one more illustration of the duty and profit of searching the scriptures, which like other workmanship of God, not only bear the most microscopic scrutiny, but only so disclose their perfection.