Pronoun – τοιοῦτος; Adjective – -ους

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The forms of the pronoun τοιοῦτος
• The forms of the adjective ending in -ους
• The syntax and semantics of τοιοῦτος

VocabularyVocabulary

4 The only examples of this use without μᾶλλον are Matt 12:12 (where some manuscripts do have μᾶλλον) and Heb 10:29.

Table 412 (continued)

MorphologyMorphology: Pronoun – τοιοῦτος

• The pronoun τοιοῦτος is inflected just like the normal near demonstrative pronoun οὗτος; see 13.3.3.1 and 14.2.3.1

SyntaxSyntax-semantics: Pro – τοιοῦτος

Syntactically, τοιοῦτος behaves like an adjective, so it is found in the typical attributive positions as well as with the article without another noun:

In terms of its meaning, the pronoun τοιοῦτος ‘such’ is used to refer to an entity in the discourse or world and to connect that entity with a description. In Matt 18:5, τοιοῦτο references the previous description of the child. This description is given in Matt 18:2–4 where Jesus calls a child to him and shows the child to his disciples, and he then describes the child as someone who humbles himself. When τοιοῦτο is used with παιδίον, it signals the reader to connect the child Jesus is currently talking about with the one he just described. Thus, it is not receiving any child that is made equivalent to receiving Jesus, but it is receiving the humble child previously described.

Translations like the NIV where τοιοῦτον is translated simply as ‘him’ in Acts 22:22 fail to capture the meaning of the pronoun. In this cry from the crowd, Paul is said to be unfit to live. However, by referring to him with τοιοῦτον, the people connect Paul to something he has done or said. In context, it is Paul saying that he would go to the gentiles that causes the crowd to erupt. By using τοιοῦτον, the crowd is not saying that Paul in particular is the problem, but any such person that would go to the gentiles, of which Paul happens to be one, deserves death

The description referred to by τοιοῦτος may also be clarified by other elements, such as the relative pronouns ὅσ(τις) or οἷος. The former normally comes after, while the latter normally comes before τοιοῦτος:

• (558) τοιοῦτος with ὅστις 5
• καὶ τοιαύτη πορνεία ἥτις οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν (1 Cor 5:1)
• And such sexual immorality, which is not even among the gentiles

In both (558) and (559), we see a similar meaning of τοιοῦτος as in Matt 18:5 and Acts 22:22, but the description connected with τοιοῦτος is further clarified by the preceding or following relative clauses. In 1 Cor 5:1, ἥτις introduces a clause that gives an additional description of the kind of sexual immorality Paul is referring to, namely sexual immorality that would not even be found (or named)6 among the gentiles. Whereas a relative clause that follows τοιοῦτος is nonrestrictive and provides additional information, the preceding relative clause οἷος does provide the description which τοιοῦτος refers back to in 1 Cor 15:48. Thus, the heavenly people will be just like the heavenly person (in the relevant way in the context).

GrammarGrammar topic: Adj – -ους

• Adjectives with the -ους ending have a stem that ends in -εο which contracts with the normal 2nd (for masc/neut adjectives) and 1st (for fem adjectives) declension endings
• When the stem ends in ρ, the α replaces the η in the fem sg, as expected, e.g. πορφυρᾶ