αὐτὸν (auton) in Romans 3:26: Accusative Singular Masculine
αὐτὸν (auton) in Romans 3:26
Textual Witness
The witness reads αὐτὸν in Romans 3:26 within the phrase εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον καὶ δικαιοῦντα.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The pronoun keeps the clause anchored to the same referent already in view, so the verse reads as a focused explanation rather than a shift to a different subject.
How To Communicate It
This form supports a translation and explanation that preserve continuity of reference in the purpose clause and avoid treating the pronoun as introducing a new actor.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case here should be read with the infinitive clause and the surrounding adjectives, not in isolation.
- Grammatical gender is a matter of form and agreement, not a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word points to a referent already in view, here with an identifying or emphatic force rather than naming a new entity.
Accusative: the form normally marks a direct object or a related complement, and here it belongs to the infinitive clause in the verse.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, so it points to one referent in the clause.
Masculine: the form is in the masculine grammatical class, which helps agreement but does not by itself make a theological claim about gender.
What The Form Does In This Verse
εἰς τὸ εἶναι
The accusative form is governed by the infinitive phrase after εἰς, where it functions within the clause that states the intended result.
It identifies the person referred to in the clause, and the nearby adjectives describe that same referent as righteous and as one who justifies.
It is not best read as a free-standing subject, and the case alone does not require a special doctrinal emphasis beyond the verse's flow.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The pronoun anchors the infinitive clause that describes God as righteous and justifier.
Accusative pronoun in an infinitive clause. keeps the referent continuous within the clause. Attached to the purpose or result clause about being righteous and justifying. Governed by the infinitive phrase. This is not a simple direct object; the infinitive construction requires cautious explanation.
Who is being described in the infinitive clause? The pronoun keeps the same referent in view as righteous and as the one who justifies.
Supporting: The construction supports reference continuity more than a wooden one-word rendering.
Because the pronoun stands in an infinitive construction, avoid forcing it into an ordinary direct-object category.
Accusative pronoun must be a simple direct object: In an infinitive clause, accusative forms can function differently; the construction and context must decide.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads αὐτὸν in Romans 3:26 within the phrase εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον καὶ δικαιοῦντα.
The lemma αὐτός commonly serves as an emphatic or reference-point pronoun, so the form points back to an already known referent rather than introducing a new one.
Its accusative case fits the infinitive construction and marks the referent within the stated purpose or result, while the surrounding adjectives define the same referent in the clause.
The verse presents the intended demonstration of righteousness in the present time, with the pronoun locating who is being described as righteous and as the justifier.
In Romans, this supports the flow of argument about God's righteous action without making the pronoun itself carry the whole theology of the passage.
For readers and teachers, the form helps show that the clause keeps focus on the same implied referent across the sentence, which aids clear translation and explanation.
Do not derive a new person, a separate subject, or an added doctrinal claim from the case ending alone.