προσκυνηταὶ (proskynetai) in John 4:23: Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
προσκυνηταὶ (proskynetai) in John 4:23
Textual Witness
The Textus Receptus witness for John 4:23 reads προσκυνηταὶ with the morphology label Noun Nominative Plural Masculine.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The noun identifies the people whose worship Jesus says the Father seeks.
How To Communicate It
When teaching John 4:23, use the nominative noun to identify the people in view before explaining how Jesus describes their worship.
What Not To Say
- Grammar should serve context, not override it.
- Do not treat this occurrence as a complete word study for G4353.
- Do not make a morphology label carry doctrine or application apart from the verse.
- Do not turn grammatical gender into a biological or theological claim by itself.
- Do not treat the noun as a standalone identity label. The surrounding sentence defines their worship.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the form names a person, reality, thing, or idea in the sentence.
Not applicable: this nominal form does not carry verbal tense or aspect.
Not applicable: this nominal form does not use verbal voice.
Not applicable: this nominal form does not use verbal mood.
Not applicable: this nominal form is not marked for verbal person.
Nominative: case helps show how the form relates to the surrounding phrase or clause.
Plural: number marks whether the form is grammatically singular or plural in this occurrence.
Masculine: grammatical gender belongs to the form and should not be turned into a separate theological claim by itself.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The statement about those who will worship the Father
Jesus' future worship statement in John 4:23
προσκυνηταὶ is a Noun Nominative Plural Masculine within "νῦν ἐστιν, ὅτε οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταὶ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ πατρὶ ἐν πνεύματι". The nominative plural noun names the subject group in Jesus' statement.
The noun does not define worshipers apart from the Father they worship and the spirit-and-truth frame Jesus gives.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form matters because it functions as subject in John 4:23.
Noun Nominative Plural Masculine. names the worshipers who will worship the Father. Attached to the statement about those who will worship the Father. Governed by Jesus' future worship statement in John 4:23. The syntax should be explained from the clause, not isolated from the passage.
Who does Jesus say will worship the Father? The nominative noun names the true worshipers.
Direct: The form directly supports worshipers.
The same morphology label can function differently in another verse. The immediate wording should decide the contextual force. Grammar identifies the form's role; the passage supplies the interpretive weight. Grammatical gender is not a separate theological claim.
Grammar alone proves doctrine: The form supports interpretation only as it serves the verse and its context. form label replaces context: Do not treat the noun as a standalone identity label. The surrounding sentence defines their worship. grammatical gender proves theology: Grammatical gender is a language feature and should not be pressed beyond the verse.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The Textus Receptus witness for John 4:23 reads προσκυνηταὶ with the morphology label Noun Nominative Plural Masculine.
The lemma is προσκυνητής. The guide uses the gloss "a worshipper" only to orient this occurrence.
προσκυνηταὶ appears in the phrase "νῦν ἐστιν, ὅτε οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταὶ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ πατρὶ ἐν πνεύματι". The nominative plural noun names the subject group in Jesus' statement.
John 4:23 identifies true worshipers as those who will worship the Father.
The form fits John's emphasis that worship is reoriented by Jesus' revelation of the Father.
When teaching John 4:23, use the nominative noun to identify the people in view before explaining how Jesus describes their worship.
The noun does not define worshipers apart from the Father they worship and the spirit-and-truth frame Jesus gives.