ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) in Romans 3:4: Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἄνθρωπος (anthropos) in Romans 3:4
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἄνθρωπος in Romans 3:4 within the clause πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, so the form is to be read in that immediate sentence context.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps the verse sound universal and representative, so the statement reads as a broad claim about humanity under God's truthfulness.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation notes, this form can be explained as a general human noun in a nominative clause, with the main point coming from the contrast in the verse.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make grammatical gender into a theological gender claim.
- Do not treat the form as changing the lemma into another word or as proving more than the sentence says.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a person or human reality, and here it functions as a general human term in the clause.
Nominative: this form commonly marks the subject or a predicate role, and here it fits the clause's naming statement about humans.
Singular: this occurrence is grammatically singular, presenting the term as one collective human reference rather than a plural form.
Masculine: this is the noun's grammatical class in this form, and it does not by itself make a gendered theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης
The nearby wording places the noun in a nominative statement, but the sense is governed by the whole contrast between God and human speech in the verse.
It functions as part of the predicate-like assertion that every human is false, expressing a general human category in the sentence.
It is not a standalone topic word detached from the clause, and the form alone does not force a subject role beyond the local syntax.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The nominative noun stands in Paul's contrast between God's truthfulness and human unreliability.
Nominative subject in a general statement. names every human as the subject of the contrast with God's truthfulness. Attached to πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος. Governed by the implied equative assertion with ψεύστης. The grammar states the human side of the contrast; the verse supplies the theological point about God's faithfulness.
Who is contrasted with God in this line? The noun names every human as the contrasting subject.
Direct: The nominative subject directly supports rendering every man or every person as false.
The singular noun with πᾶς functions generically and should not be limited to one individual.
Singular noun means one specific man: The singular form with πᾶς expresses a general human category in this statement.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἄνθρωπος in Romans 3:4 within the clause πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, so the form is to be read in that immediate sentence context.
The lemma ἄνθρωπος refers to a human being, and in this passage it serves as a general human term rather than a change of lexical meaning.
Its nominative singular shape works with the surrounding words to make a concise statement about humanity as a whole, not to isolate one individual.
The verse contrasts God's truth with human falsehood, so the noun contributes to a universalizing claim that people are not the final measure of truth.
This use fits the wider biblical pattern of setting God over against human limitation, while still letting the verse's own wording lead the reading.
For communication, the form helps readers hear a general, representative statement about humans, which supports the verse's force without over-specifying the syntax.
Do not derive a special theological gender claim, a strict individual focus, or a meaning beyond the context's general statement about human falsehood.