In The Beginning: An Introduction to Greek prepositions
Prepositions are little words that carry a lot of interpretive weight in NT Greek.
What Is A Preposition?
A preposition sits in front of a noun or pronoun and “explains” the meaning of that noun or pronoun in relation to the other words in the sentence. We are familiar enough with them in English e.g. The dog sat on the box.
The most important thing to remember about prepositions is that they determine the case of the noun or pronoun that comes after them i.e. they govern the noun or pronoun.
In English, the noun or pronoun is always in the accusative case. This is not the case (pun intended) in NT Greek.
Prepositions With One Case
Many Greek prepositions take a single case, but this is not necessarily the accusative case as in English. It may be the genitive or dative case.
Here are three examples of prepositions that take a single case:
εἰς takes the accusative case and means “into”, “to”, “for” or “in”
ἐκ takes the genitive case and means “out of”, “from’ or “by”
ἐν takes the dative case and means “in”, “within”, “by” or “among”
Other Greek prepositions take two cases and a few take three cases. The case of the governed noun or pronoun determines the meaning of the preposition in that particular instance.
Prepositions With Two Cases
Here are two examples of prepositions that govern two cases:
διά with the accusative means “because of” and with the genitive means “through”
μετά with the accusative means “after” and with the genitive means “with”
Prepositions With Three Cases
Here is one example of a preposition that governs three cases:
παρά with the accusative means “beside”, with the genitive means “from” and with the dative means “with”.
Another example is ἐπι. This preposition takes the accusative, which means “onto”, and the genitive and dative; however, there is often little, if any, difference between the meaning of these two cases: “on”, or “upon”.
The Meaning oF Prepositions
The second most important thing to remember about prepositions is that their meanings are not etched in stone.
All of the more common prepositions shift meaning according to context around what can be called their “core meaning”.
For prepositions that possess a meaning with a spatial sense, and this is all of the common ones, this core meaning can be represented in diagrammatic form as per below (a version of this diagram is found in most good text books).
The satellite meanings that “cluster” around this core meaning can be quite nuanced and much exegetical ink has been spilt over the precise rendering of many prepositional phrases within the Greek of the New Testament.
The sheer number of occurrences of these tiny words within the New Testament (e.g. ἐν occurs over 2700 times and does not always simply mean “in”) carries a lot of theological weight and, in fact, there is a book titled “Prepositions and Theology” that is well worth getting hold of if you would like to dig further into this rich seam of exegetical insight.
Prepositions And Theology
An Essential Reference Resource for Exegesis
Author: Murray. J. Harris
Publisher: Zondervan
Further Resources
Good introductory textbooks such as The Elements of New Testament Greek by Jeremy Duff and Learn To Read New Testament Greek by David Alan Black will provide you with a solid introduction to NT Greek prepositions while more advanced texts such as Going Deeper with New Testament Greek by Kostenberger, Merkle and Plummer and Greek Grammar Beyond The Basics by Daniel B. Wallace will introduce to the grammatical riches of these diminutive terms.
You can also check out my Boot Camp Greek presentation below for a simple outline of Greek prepositions and the cases that they govern.
