αὐτοῦ (autou) in Romans 3:26: Genitive Singular Masculine
αὐτοῦ (autou) in Romans 3:26
Textual Witness
The witness reads αὐτοῦ in Romans 3:26, within the phrase πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form narrows the phrase to a relational reading, so the verse communicates whose righteousness is being demonstrated while leaving the larger identity question to context.
How To Communicate It
This form lets translation and explanation preserve the link between righteousness and its owner or source, which keeps the sentence specific and coherent.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Masculine grammatical gender here is a form feature, not a theological statement about gender.
- If syntax is not fully settled by the immediate context, state only the conservative relational function.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word refers back to a known person or thing rather than naming it directly.
Genitive: the form commonly marks possession, source, or another relational link, and here it ties the righteousness to its referent.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, so it points to one referent in the immediate context.
Masculine: the form is marked masculine in grammar, but that feature only follows the referent pattern and does not itself make a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
τῆς δικαιοσύνης
The genitive form depends on the noun phrase it follows and identifies whose righteousness is in view in the clause.
It functions as a possessive or relational qualifier, saying the righteousness is attributed to the referent of the pronoun.
It does not introduce a new subject, and it does not by itself determine the identity of the referent apart from the verse context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive pronoun identifies whose righteousness is demonstrated, which is central to the argument of Romans 3:26.
Genitive pronoun modifying righteousness. identifies the righteousness as belonging to or associated with God in the argument. Attached to the his righteousness phrase. Governed by the noun phrase about the demonstration of righteousness. The form keeps the righteousness personally anchored; the full sentence explains how it is demonstrated.
Whose righteousness is being demonstrated? The pronoun points to God as the one whose righteousness is in view.
Direct: The form directly supports his righteousness.
The genitive marks relation to righteousness; the wider sentence explains the theological content. Do not make the pronoun carry the whole doctrine of justification apart from the surrounding clause.
Pronoun alone proves the whole doctrine of justification: The pronoun identifies whose righteousness is in view; the argument supplies the doctrine.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads αὐτοῦ in Romans 3:26, within the phrase πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ.
αὐτός is a flexible pronoun that can refer back to a known person or thing, and here it supplies a back-reference rather than a new lexical idea.
The genitive fits the nearby noun δικαιοσύνης and tells the reader that the righteousness in view belongs to or is associated with the prior referent in context.
In this sentence, the pronoun supports the claim that the present demonstration concerns that referent's righteousness now made visible in the stated time.
Within Romans 3:26, the form helps the verse speak about God's public demonstration without turning the pronoun itself into the main subject of the statement.
For readers and teachers, the form helps avoid vagueness by showing that the righteousness is not abstract in isolation but is linked to an identifiable referent in the discourse.
Do not derive a full doctrinal profile, a separate subject, or a gendered theological conclusion from the pronoun ending alone.