ἸΗΣΟΥΝ. (Iesoun) in Matthew 1:25: Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἸΗΣΟΥΝ. (Iesoun) in Matthew 1:25
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἸΗΣΟΥΝ. in Matthew 1:25, with the surrounding clause saying that Joseph called his name this word.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps the verse read as a direct naming statement about Jesus, with grammar serving the narrative rather than expanding it.
How To Communicate It
In translation and teaching, this form can be rendered plainly as the name Jesus, with the clause understood as Joseph naming the child.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case here supports the naming construction, but it does not by itself create the verse's meaning.
- Masculine grammatical gender is part of the noun form and should not be treated as a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a person, and here it identifies Jesus by name rather than describing an action.
Accusative: the form usually marks the direct object or a closely related complement, and here it fits the naming phrase.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and refers to one named individual.
Masculine: the noun belongs to the masculine grammatical class, which here is part of the name's form and does not by itself make a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ
The noun is governed by the naming expression after ἐκάλεσε, so it completes the sentence as the name given to the child.
It functions as the named object in the clause, identifying what Joseph called the child.
It does not function here as the subject of the sentence, and the accusative form should not be pressed beyond its naming role.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The accusative form reports the fulfillment of the naming command by identifying the child as Jesus.
Accusative name-form completing Joseph's naming action. marks Jesus as the given name in the birth narrative's closing statement. Attached to ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἸΗΣΟΥΝ. Governed by the verb ἐκάλεσε and the naming phrase. The grammar supports the naming action while Matthew's context explains why the name matters.
What does Joseph name the child? The accusative name-form identifies Jesus as the name Joseph gives the child.
Direct: The accusative directly supports rendering the clause as Joseph called his name Jesus.
The form confirms the naming statement but does not add a separate doctrine from case alone. The uppercase witness surface should be treated as a textual display feature, not a different lemma. The name's theological significance is carried by the birth narrative, not morphology alone.
Case alone proves the full interpretation: The case form identifies clause role; the sentence and passage supply the full interpretive claim. grammatical gender carries a theological claim: The gender label describes Greek form class or agreement and should not be made into a separate doctrinal claim.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἸΗΣΟΥΝ. in Matthew 1:25, with the surrounding clause saying that Joseph called his name this word.
The lemma is Ἰησοῦς, the proper name Jesus, which in this context identifies the promised child.
The accusative case works with ἐκάλεσε and τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ to show the naming result, not to add a separate theological idea.
The verse reports that the child was named Jesus, completing the birth narrative with the assigned name.
This fits the broader canonical pattern that treats Jesus as the named deliverer, while the grammar here simply supports the naming statement.
Readers should hear the form as a clear narrative naming marker, helping the sentence communicate identity and fulfillment.
Do not derive extra meaning from case or gender alone, and do not treat the form as changing the person, lemma, or role of Jesus.