σαρκός, (sarkos) in John 1:13: Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
σαρκός, (sarkos) in John 1:13
Textual Witness
The Textus Receptus witness has σαρκός in John 1:13, tagged N-GSF.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form marks flesh as the source or belonging sphere of the will denied in John 1:13. The grammar sharpens the contrast between human origin and divine begetting without turning the form into an independent theological code.
How To Communicate It
Explain that John is denying merely human origin for the new birth. The phrase does not make flesh the subject; it names the human sphere of willing that cannot produce birth from God.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not treat feminine grammatical gender as a feminine theological claim.
- Do not claim that the genitive form changes σάρξ into a different dictionary word.
- Do not flatten John 1:13 and John 1:14 into the same grammatical use.
- Do not use this form to deny the positive incarnational use of σάρξ in John 1:14.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a person, thing, idea, reality, or concept.
Genitive: the form usually marks relationship, source, possession, description, or a governed object.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class. This does not by itself create a feminine theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
θελήματος, will
The prepositional phrase ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός.
The genitive qualifies will by identifying the sphere, source, or character of the will being denied.
The form is not the acting subject of the clause and not the direct object.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive flesh phrase helps deny merely human origin for the birth that is from God.
Genitive noun qualifying the will phrase. describes the kind or source-character of will that the verse excludes. Attached to the will of flesh phrase. Governed by the source phrase introduced by ek. The form sharpens the human-source denial, but the sentence's contrast with birth from God carries the main claim.
What kind of will is being denied as the source of this birth? The genitive identifies fleshly or merely human will as one excluded source.
Direct: The form directly supports of flesh or a closely equivalent source phrase.
The genitive should not be used to make the created body evil. Feminine grammatical gender is noun class and not a biological or theological claim.
Flesh genitive becomes an anti-body doctrine: The form qualifies the source phrase; the verse contrasts human origin with birth from God.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The Textus Receptus witness has σαρκός in John 1:13, tagged N-GSF.
The form belongs to σάρξ, G4561, the word for flesh or embodied human nature.
The genitive form qualifies θελήματος, will, inside the phrase ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός.
John denies that the new birth arises from merely human or natural willing before contrasting it with birth from God.
This reading fits John's wider contrast between human inability and divine life, and it does not conflict with John 1:14 where σάρξ is used positively for the incarnation.
Teach the form as a support for John's source contrast, not as a standalone theological claim.
Do not derive a feminine theological claim from grammatical gender, and do not claim that genitive case changes the lemma into a different word.