στόμα (stoma) in Romans 3:14: Noun Nominative Singular Neuter
στόμα (stoma) in Romans 3:14
Textual Witness
The witness reads ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει, so the form appears in a short descriptive clause about the mouth.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The nominative form supports the clause's direct description of the mouth as full of curse and bitterness, sharpening the focus on speech.
How To Communicate It
In translation and teaching, this form can be rendered naturally as the mouth that is full of curse and bitterness, while keeping the context primary.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Nominative case here identifies the clause's subject role, but the meaning still comes from the whole sentence.
- Neuter gender is a grammatical class marker, not a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a body part and, by extension here, the organ or outlet of speech in the sentence.
Nominative: the form normally marks a subject or predicate role, and here it is the noun being described by the verb.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, presenting one mouth as the unit in view.
Neuter: the noun belongs to the neuter grammatical class, which is a form feature and does not by itself make a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It is attached to the article τὸ and stands in the phrase ὧν τὸ στόμα.
The verb γέμει governs the clause and presents this noun phrase as what is said to be full.
The noun phrase functions as the thing characterized by the contents of the mouth, namely curse and bitterness.
It is not the verb itself, and the nominative form should not be taken as a separate subject that changes the clause beyond the context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The nominative noun focuses the speech image on the mouth as full of curse and bitterness.
Nominative subject with fullness predicate. names what is characterized as full of curse and bitterness. Attached to the mouth phrase. Governed by the verb describing fullness. The form supports the subject role, while the quoted context carries the moral portrait.
What is described as full of curse and bitterness? The mouth is the noun phrase being characterized in the clause.
Direct: The nominative form directly supports rendering the mouth as the thing described.
The mouth image should be read as speech imagery within Romans 3, not as a bare anatomy note.
Neuter noun weakens the moral warning: Neuter is grammatical gender; the warning comes from the phrase and argument.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει, so the form appears in a short descriptive clause about the mouth.
The lemma στόμα commonly means mouth, and in this setting it can point to the organ of speech or to speech expressed through it.
The nominative singular neuter form fits the clause as the head noun of the phrase that the verb says is full of curse and bitterness.
The grammar supports the picture of persons whose speech is marked by cursing and bitterness, without requiring the form to bear more than the context gives.
Within Romans 3, the expression contributes to the larger portrayal of human speech and conduct as morally disordered.
For readers and teachers, the form helps show that the text speaks about the condition of the mouth, and thus the speech that comes from it.
Do not derive a hidden doctrine from nominative case, and do not turn grammatical gender into a statement about actual sex or theology.