ἑνός· (enos) in Romans 3:12: Adjective Genitive Singular Masculine
ἑνός· (enos) in Romans 3:12
Textual Witness
The witness reads 'οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός' in Romans 3:12, with the form standing at the close of the verse.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form adds precision to the negative claim by helping the sentence exclude every possible exception, including a single one.
How To Communicate It
When communicating the verse, this form may be glossed as 'one' within a limiting phrase, but the interpretation should stay tied to the sentence's strong denial.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Masculine gender here is grammatical, not a gendered theological statement.
- The form supports the verse's meaning, but it does not create that meaning apart from the clause.
- Do not use the grammar profile as a shortcut around the wording and logic of the verse.
What Does The Label Mean?
Adjective: the form describes or quantifies a noun, and here it functions with numeral force.
Genitive: the form usually expresses relation, limit, or reference, and here it works with the phrase around it.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and points to one rather than many.
Masculine: the form is in the masculine grammatical class, which is a language feature and not a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The form is attached to the limiting phrase headed by ἕως and completes the expression ἕως ἑνός.
The form follows ἕως and most naturally belongs to the limiting phrase 'until one' or 'to the point of one'. The genitive signals relation inside that phrase, but the broader sense comes from the clause as a whole.
It helps mark the limit of the statement by indicating a single remaining instance or person, in contrast with the preceding 'none'.
It does not by itself prove a special doctrinal category, and it does not change the lemma into a different word.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive singular adjective contributes to the emphatic "not even one" conclusion.
Genitive numeral adjective in a limiting phrase. marks the limiting boundary of the negated statement down to a single one. Attached to the phrase not even one. Governed by heos in Romans 3:12. The form supports the totalizing force, but the whole clause makes the indictment.
How complete is the negation? The phrase presses the denial to the limit: not even one.
Direct: The form directly supports "one" in the emphatic phrase.
The genitive form should be explained as part of the limiting phrase, not as an isolated case claim. Masculine grammatical form should not be turned into a gendered theological statement.
Case ending alone creates universal sin doctrine: The case supports the local wording; the quotation and argument carry the universal indictment. masculine form limits the indictment to men: Masculine grammatical form does not limit the theological scope by itself.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads 'οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός' in Romans 3:12, with the form standing at the close of the verse.
The lemma εἷς normally means 'one', and this inflected form keeps that basic identity while appearing in genitive singular masculine form.
Placed after ἕως, the form works as a boundary marker in the sentence. In the surrounding negation, it strengthens the idea that no person is left out of the verdict.
The verse says that none does good, and this form helps express that the absence reaches all the way down to one, with no exception.
The wording fits Paul's larger argument in Romans 3 about universal human sin and the need for divine grace.
For readers and teachers, the form can be explained as a small but forceful piece of the verse's total negation: not even one.
Do not derive a separate theological doctrine from genitive case alone, and do not let the form override the verse's plain negated sense.