ἡμῶν (emon) in Matthew 1:23: P-1GP
ἡμῶν (emon) in Matthew 1:23
Textual Witness
The cited text reads Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός in Matthew 1:23, so the form appears inside the explanatory clause about Emmanuel.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The plural genitive makes the Emmanuel explanation communal and inclusive: the verse says God is with us, not merely with one individual.
How To Communicate It
Translate and read the phrase as a concise explanation of Emmanuel, letting the pronoun clarify presence and relationship in the sentence.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not turn grammatical plurality into a fuller claim than the verse itself makes.
- Do not treat the pronoun's form as changing the lemma or creating a new doctrine by itself.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the form stands in for a speaker or group of speakers and points to participants in the discourse.
Genitive: the form usually marks a dependent relation, here fitting the phrase that follows the preposition.
Plural: the form refers to more than one person, so the speaker includes others with himself.
Common: the form's grammatical gender is not the main point here and does not by itself make a gendered theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Μεθ᾽
The preposition with the genitive frames the pronoun as the complement of the phrase, so the sense is 'with us'.
It contributes the group included in the phrase that explains Emmanuel's meaning, identifying the people with whom God is said to be.
It does not act as the subject of the clause, and it does not by itself define the whole theology of the statement.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive pronoun is part of Matthew's explanation of Emmanuel as 'God with us.'
First-person plural genitive object of a preposition. identifies the group with whom God is said to be. Attached to the phrase explaining Emmanuel. Governed by the preposition meaning with. The preposition and genitive pronoun form the 'with us' wording, while the full clause carries the Christological and fulfillment context.
With whom is God said to be in the Emmanuel explanation? The phrase says God is with us.
Direct: The prepositional phrase directly supports the English wording 'with us.'
The pronoun supplies the group in the phrase; the fulfillment claim depends on Matthew's quotation and narrative context.
Genitive always means possession: The genitive is governed by a preposition here and functions as the object of the with phrase.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The cited text reads Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός in Matthew 1:23, so the form appears inside the explanatory clause about Emmanuel.
The lemma ἐγώ regularly supplies first person reference, and this genitive plural form points to 'we/us' rather than a singular speaker.
Placed after μετά, the form marks the people included in the association, giving the phrase a communal sense without adding more than the context supports.
The verse explains the name Emmanuel by saying that God is with us, so the pronoun helps express nearness and presence for the people addressed.
In this verse, the form supports a repeated biblical theme of God present among his people, but the grammar itself only supplies the pronoun's role here.
Readers can render the phrase naturally as 'with us' and hear the explanatory force of the name without turning the pronoun into a separate emphasis point.
Do not infer singular meaning, special theological status for the pronoun, or a change in the lemma; the form simply serves the clause it appears in.