Θεός. (Theos) in Matthew 1:23: Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
Θεός. (Theos) in Matthew 1:23
Textual Witness
The witness reads Θεός. in the Textus Receptus tradition at Matthew 1:23, within the fixed phrase Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps the verse read as a concise identification of Emmanuel with divine presence, while the context supplies the theological weight.
How To Communicate It
In preaching or translation notes, this form can be summarized as the explanatory title 'God with us,' not as a standalone grammatical proof.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Masculine gender here is grammatical, not a sex-based or theological gender claim.
- The nominative form guides the clause, but the verse's meaning comes from the whole sentence and citation frame.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a reality or person, and here it is the word for God rather than a different kind of word.
Nominative: this form usually marks a subject or a predicate-like unit, and here it fits the clause that identifies Emmanuel.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular here, so the reference is presented as one identified God rather than a plural group.
Masculine: this is the noun's grammatical class in Greek, and it does not by itself make a theological claim about male sex.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός.
It stands in the explanatory clause after ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, so the form helps present the name's meaning as an identification.
The nominative noun functions as part of the transliterated explanation, giving the sense, With us is God, or God is with us, within the quotation's translation frame.
It is not here a case form that by itself settles a full syntactic diagram beyond the local identification, and it does not change the lemma into another word.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The nominative form stands inside the explanation of Emmanuel and identifies God in the 'with us' name meaning.
Nominative noun in an explanatory name clause. identifies God as the one named in the explanation 'God with us'. Attached to Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός. Governed by the translated explanation introduced by ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον. The nominative supports the local identification while the quotation context supplies the theological frame.
Who is named in the meaning of Emmanuel? The nominative noun identifies God within the explanation of the name as 'God with us'.
Direct: The form directly supports the explanatory rendering 'God with us' or 'God is with us'.
The name explanation should not be treated as a full syntactic diagram apart from Matthew's quotation frame. The nominative identifies the referent but does not by itself resolve every Christological implication. The form does not change the lemma into another word or a title detached from the verse.
The grammar alone proves the whole doctrine of incarnation: The grammar supports the name explanation; Matthew's narrative and quotation context carry the doctrine. nominative always means a simple subject in every context: Here the nominative is read within an explanatory name phrase, not as an isolated sentence.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads Θεός. in the Textus Receptus tradition at Matthew 1:23, within the fixed phrase Μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός.
The lemma θεός normally means God or a god, and in this verse the context points to the one true God in the scriptural citation.
The nominative form fits the clause that explains Emmanuel's name, so the grammar serves the translation and identification rather than introducing a new idea on its own.
The passage communicates that Jesus' name Emmanuel is interpreted as God's being with us, which reinforces the promised presence of God with his people.
This wording fits the Gospel's larger messianic and divine presence theme, while remaining anchored to the verse's own explanatory citation.
For readers and teachers, the form supports a compact, memorable confession that God's presence is realized in the child named Emmanuel.
Do not derive that masculine grammar means male divinity, and do not overread case or number beyond the verse's translation and identification.