αὐτὸν (auton) in John 1:11: Accusative Singular Masculine
αὐτὸν (auton) in John 1:11
Textual Witness
The witnessed form is αὐτὸν in John 1:11, within the clause καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps the sentence read as a rejection of the one in view, not as a vague statement about a general person.
How To Communicate It
It supports clear translation and teaching by showing who was not received while leaving the larger meaning to the verse context.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not turn masculine grammatical form into a theological claim about gender.
- If syntax is not fully determined by form alone, state the most conservative reading that the immediate clause supports.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word points to a person or thing already in view, rather than naming it again.
Accusative: the form usually marks the direct object or another object-like role in the clause.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, even when the referent may be collective or representative.
Masculine: the noun class is masculine in form here, but that grammatical gender does not by itself make a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
παρέλαβον
The pronoun is governed by the verb παρέλαβον, where the accusative form naturally marks what was not received.
It functions as the direct object of the verb, referring back to the one who came to his own.
It is not the subject of the clause, and the form alone does not require a special theological reading beyond the context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The accusative pronoun marks the one not received by his own.
Object of the verb receive. identifies the rejected person in the clause. Attached to the clause his own did not receive him. Governed by the verb receive. The form clarifies who is being refused, while the surrounding prologue explains the significance.
Who was not received? The pronoun points to the one who came to his own.
Direct: The accusative pronoun directly supports the object rendering "him."
The pronoun's antecedent should be traced through the prologue rather than isolated from it.
Object pronoun carries all the theology by itself: The pronoun marks the rejected referent; the whole Johannine sentence carries the theological claim.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witnessed form is αὐτὸν in John 1:11, within the clause καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.
The lemma is αὐτός, a common pronoun that can point back to a previously mentioned person or thing.
Here the accusative singular form fits the verb of receiving and identifies the one who was not received by his own people.
The verse says that he came to what was his own, and his own people did not receive him.
In the wider John 1 context, the pronoun keeps attention on the same arriving figure already introduced in the prologue.
For readers and translators, the form clarifies that the action falls on him as the object, not on the group that failed to receive him.
Do not derive extra meaning from case or gender beyond the object role that the context already supplies.