ἐπίγνωσις (epignosis) in Romans 3:20: Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ἐπίγνωσις (epignosis) in Romans 3:20
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἐπίγνωσις in Romans 3:20 within the clause διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The grammar supports a reading where law functions as a revelatory standard that uncovers sin, so the verse stresses exposure and accountability.
How To Communicate It
In preaching or translation, this form helps communicate that the law's role is diagnostic: it reveals sin rather than providing justification.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Nominative singular here describes the clause, but it does not by itself settle every syntactic detail.
- Grammatical gender is only a category of the noun and does not create a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names an idea or reality, here the act or result of knowing, recognizing, or discerning.
Nominative: this form normally marks the subject or a predicate idea, and here it fits the clause as the stated result of the law.
Singular: this form is singular in shape, presenting the idea as one general reality rather than as a set of items.
Feminine: this noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which is a language feature and not a theological claim about persons.
What The Form Does In This Verse
This occurrence of ἐπίγνωσις is tied to its immediate phrase or clause in Romans 3:20. It functions as the nominative idea in the clause, naming knowledge or recognition of sin in relation to the law.
The nominative form is governed by its clause role rather than by a preposition. This form functions as the nominative idea in the clause, naming knowledge or recognition of sin in relation to the law.
It functions as the nominative idea in the clause, naming knowledge or recognition of sin in relation to the law.
It is not an acting subject, and the grammar by itself should not be expanded into a full doctrinal statement beyond the clause.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The nominative noun names knowledge of sin in the clause that explains the law's diagnostic role.
Nominative idea in the explanatory clause. names the result or reality associated with law rather than a justifying action. Attached to the phrase about knowledge of sin. Governed by the clause that links law with recognition of sin. The grammar helps identify the clause's focus, while Romans 3:20 supplies the contrast with justification.
What does the law bring into view in this clause? The clause names knowledge or recognition of sin as the reality connected with the law.
Direct: The nominative noun supports a direct rendering such as knowledge of sin or recognition of sin.
The nominative idea should be read with the explanatory clause; it is not an acting subject detached from the law statement.
Nominative case creates a full doctrine by itself: The case identifies the clause focus, but Paul's argument supplies the doctrine of law and sin. feminine noun class makes a theological claim: The feminine form is grammatical and should not be given gendered theological force.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἐπίγνωσις in Romans 3:20 within the clause διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.
The lemma ἐπίγνωσις carries the sense of knowledge, discernment, or recognition, so the word points to informed awareness rather than mere data.
Its nominative singular form suits a concise statement of outcome, and the surrounding genitive phrase ἁμαρτίας shows what is recognized or brought into view.
Paul's point is that the law exposes sin by bringing it into clear recognition, not that the law justifies or removes sin.
This aligns with the wider biblical theme that divine instruction can reveal wrongdoing and heighten accountability.
For teaching and translation, the verse can be rendered plainly as law producing knowledge of sin, with emphasis on exposure and awareness.
Do not derive that the form itself proves exhaustive knowledge, saving insight, or a change in the lemma's meaning.