Everyday language users follow grammatical rules and patterns without ever thinking about these. Some of these patterns are remarkably complex and sophisticated. Native speakers have absorbed these patterns and use them, mostly unconsciously, to express subtle nuances. The same is true for the New Testament. The Greek text contains many subtleties that are often not expressed in our translations. Readers who have a wide exposure to a foreign language will intuitively develop an understanding of these hidden rules. Some branches of modern linguistics have been able to put these intuitions into words. We will look at some of the patterns seen in simple sentences and build our understanding out to more complex and theologically rich cases such as Romans 3:23-26.
