αὐτοῦ, (autou) in John 1:15: Genitive Singular Masculine
αὐτοῦ, (autou) in John 1:15
Textual Witness
The witnessed form is αὐτοῦ in the phrase Ἰωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦ, and the surrounding clause keeps the reference centered on the same person.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports a reading of John as testifying concerning a known person, with the grammar serving the flow of reference rather than supplying the main point by itself.
How To Communicate It
In translation and teaching, render the phrase naturally as about him or concerning him, while keeping the antecedent supplied by the verse context.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- The masculine label is grammatical and does not by itself make a theological gender claim.
- A genitive pronoun marks relationship in context, but it does not by itself determine every nuance of the sentence.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word points to a referent already in view rather than naming it directly.
Genitive: the form usually marks a relationship, dependence, or aboutness in the clause.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and points to one referent in context.
Masculine: the noun class is masculine here, which is a grammatical feature and not by itself a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It follows περὶ and is read with the witness phrase περὶ αὐτοῦ.
The preposition περὶ governs the genitive and frames the reference as the one John testifies about.
It identifies the person of whom John bears witness, namely the one already under discussion in the passage.
It does not introduce a new subject for the sentence or change the lemma into another word.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive pronoun identifies the person about whom John bears witness.
Genitive singular masculine pronoun. marks the person who is the subject of John's testimony. Attached to the phrase about him. Governed by the preposition about in John's witness statement. The pronoun keeps the testimony directed to the known referent in the passage.
About whom does John testify? John testifies about him, the person already in view in the passage.
Direct: The pronoun directly supports about him or concerning him.
The antecedent comes from the surrounding passage and should be kept explicit in teaching. Genitive case is governed by the preposition. Masculine agreement follows the referent and should not be overread.
Pronoun alone identifies the subject of testimony: The pronoun points back to a referent already developed in the context. case ending supplies the testimony's meaning: The case helps form the about-him relation, while the quoted testimony carries the content.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witnessed form is αὐτοῦ in the phrase Ἰωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦ, and the surrounding clause keeps the reference centered on the same person.
The lemma αὐτός can function as a personal or emphatic pronoun, and here it simply points back to the referent already in view.
Because περὶ takes the genitive here, the form marks the one about whom John testifies, without needing to carry a broader theological meaning on its own.
The clause says John is bearing witness about him, and the pronoun helps keep the reference focused on the one the verse is presenting.
Within John 1, this pronoun coheres with the Gospel's repeated identification of the one to whom John gives witness.
For readers, the form signals a stable antecedent and encourages them to follow the ongoing reference rather than pause over a new name.
Do not derive from the genitive alone any special nuance beyond the relationship required by the preposition and the immediate context.