ἄνθρωπον (anthropon) in Romans 3:5: Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἄνθρωπον (anthropon) in Romans 3:5
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἄνθρωπον in the phrase κατὰ ἄνθρωπον λέγω within Romans 3:5.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports a construal of the phrase as a manner qualifier, which slightly sharpens the verse by showing Paul is labeling his own speech as humanly framed.
How To Communicate It
For readers, this form helps explain why the clause sounds like a rhetorical aside rather than a statement about one specific man.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case here suggests function with κατα, but it does not by itself settle every nuance of the clause.
- Masculine gender is grammatical classification here and should not be turned into a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a person or, here, a human reference used in a comparative phrase.
Accusative: the form commonly marks an object or a phrase shaped by a governing preposition or verb.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and points to one human standard of speech.
Masculine: the noun belongs to the masculine grammatical class, which here is a grammatical form and not a theological claim about sex or value.
What The Form Does In This Verse
κατὰ ἄνθρωπον
The preposition κατα governs the accusative and frames the phrase as a standard or manner of speaking.
The form helps express that Paul is speaking in human terms, that is, according to a merely human way of putting the question.
It is not the direct object of the verb λεγω, and it does not by itself identify a particular man in the scene.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The accusative noun is part of Paul's caution that he is speaking according to a human manner.
Accusative object of a preposition. marks the standard or manner of Paul's statement as human terms. Attached to κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. Governed by κατὰ. The prepositional phrase qualifies how Paul is speaking; it is not a direct object of the verb.
How does Paul frame the way he is speaking? The prepositional phrase says he is speaking according to human terms.
Direct: The prepositional object directly supports rendering the phrase as in human terms or as a man.
The phrase marks manner or standard; it does not identify a particular man in the argument.
Accusative noun is always the verb's direct object: Here the accusative is governed by κατὰ, so the prepositional phrase shapes the manner of speech.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἄνθρωπον in the phrase κατὰ ἄνθρωπον λέγω within Romans 3:5.
The lemma ἄνθρωπος means a human being, and here it keeps that basic sense without becoming a different lexeme.
With κατα, the accusative points to manner or standard, so the phrase marks the comment as a human mode of speaking.
Paul is pausing to say that the question is framed in human terms while he considers whether God is unjust.
This fits Paul's usual habit of contrasting human reasoning with God's action without letting grammar overstate the point.
In translation or teaching, the phrase can be rendered as according to man, in human terms, or speaking humanly, depending on style.
Do not derive a claim that the word names all mankind here, or that grammatical masculine form creates a male-only sense.