ὑπόδικος (upodikos) in Romans 3:19: Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ὑπόδικος (upodikos) in Romans 3:19
Textual Witness
Romans 3:19 continues καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ Θεῷ, with ὑπόδικος tagged A-NSM.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The predicate adjective converts the law's accumulated testimony into a universal status statement: the entire world is answerable to God.
How To Communicate It
Teach the clause as the companion to every mouth silenced, then follow the accountable world into Paul's declaration that justification is not achieved by law works.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- The adjective expresses answerability without encoding every detail of a courtroom process.
- Masculine agreement follows κόσμος and does not narrow the comprehensive subject.
- Do not detach universal accountability from Romans 3's movement toward grace and righteousness through faith.
What Does The Label Mean?
Adjective: the form describes the whole world's standing as answerable or liable before God.
Not applicable to the adjective; γένηται supplies the verbal movement into this state.
Not applicable: the adjective names a condition and does not carry voice.
Not applicable to ὑπόδικος; the accompanying verb is subjunctive because it belongs to the ἵνα clause.
Not applicable: adjectives do not mark verbal person.
Nominative: agrees with πᾶς ὁ κόσμος and functions as its predicate description.
Singular: matches κόσμος, while πᾶς gives the singular noun comprehensive scope.
Masculine: agrees grammatically with κόσμος and does not restrict the whole-world statement to male persons.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The adjective is linked by γένηται to πᾶς ὁ κόσμος and followed by τῷ Θεῷ, the one before whom the world is answerable.
The second coordinated predicate inside the ἵνα purpose-result clause that follows what the law says.
It identifies the accountable standing of the whole world after every mouth is silenced.
It does not enumerate charges, specify a modern legal process, or make masculine gender narrow the world's scope.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The predicate adjective states the comprehensive accountability that concludes the law's indictment.
Predicate adjective of liable standing. describes the whole world as answerable to God. Attached to πᾶς ὁ κόσμος through γένηται and related to τῷ Θεῷ. Governed by the second coordinated outcome in the ἵνα clause. The predicate and dative together identify status and the one to whom account is owed.
What standing does the law's testimony establish for the whole world before God? It leaves the whole world accountable to God, with no successful defense remaining.
Direct: The predicate adjective directly supports accountable or answerable in relation to God.
The adjective is legal in color but does not specify every stage or category of a judicial process. Whole world is grammatically singular and rhetorically comprehensive. The ἵνα clause can express purpose and result without weakening the accountability claim.
Legal adjective supplies a full courtroom system: The word states liable standing; detailed procedure must come from wider evidence. masculine singular excludes some people: Agreement follows the noun κόσμος, whose modifier πᾶς establishes comprehensive scope. accountability is Paul's final word: Continue into the revealed righteousness and gracious justification of Romans 3:21-26.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
Romans 3:19 continues καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ Θεῷ, with ὑπόδικος tagged A-NSM.
The lemma ὑπόδικος denotes being answerable or liable. The subject and dative relation locate that standing in the world's relation to God.
Nominative agreement binds the adjective to the whole-world subject, the copular verb brings that predicate into the ἵνα outcome, and τῷ Θεῷ identifies the one to whom account is owed.
The law's witness stops every defense and establishes the whole world's accountability to God, so law works cannot justify anyone in God's sight.
This universal liable standing prepares the gospel turn in Romans 3:21, where God's righteousness is manifested and justification is given through Christ.
Map the relation clearly: the whole world is the subject, accountable is its standing, and God is the one before whom it stands.
Do not build a detailed judicial procedure from the adjective or separate accountability from the grace announced in the following argument.