Wouldn't that argument work better if Μαρίας had the article rather than μητρός? Statistics: Posted by Stephen Carlson — September 9th, 2016, 11:15 pmDoug Dinnsen wrote: τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας in Mat 1.18 Since Mary was just mentioned in verse 16, the article here could be understood as an article of previous reference, “His [previously-mentioned] mother Mary”.
You seem to be working from a particular list that classifies uses of the article. The phrase means "his mother Mary". I'm not sure how to relate that to the categories you provide - how would you apply that to the equivalent English phrase? Does "his mother Mary" mean "she who is by identity is mother"? That doesn't sing to me. In general, if you are referring to the specific person who is someone's mother, you use the article: τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, just as you would use τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ to refer to a specific person who is someone's father. You see it without the article in phrases like ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ = from his mother's womb = from birth (Luke 1:15, Acts 3:2, Acts 14:8) or ἐκ μητρός = maternal in the phrase ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν ἐκ πατρός ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκ μητρός in Genesis 20:12, but these are not focusing on the mother as an individual. There are some places where μητρὸς is used without the article but still refers to a specific individual, as in ἀδελφὸν δὲ Ρεβεκκας μητρὸς Ιακωβ καὶ Ησαυ. Does that help? I'm not sure how to relate that to your categories. Statistics: Posted by Jonathan Robie — September 9th, 2016, 10:09 am
τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας in Mat 1.18 Since Mary was just mentioned in verse 16, the article here could be understood as an article of previous reference, “His [previously-mentioned] mother Mary”. Or, since Matthew just finished his book of genealogy, and this is the start of a new section, it could emphasize that Mary is by identity His mother, “[she who is by identity] His mother Mary”. Which is it? All my commentaries skip over this (and most other) articles. Thanks in advance for your help! Statistics: Posted by Doug Dinnsen — September 7th, 2016, 10:48 pm