αὐτοῦ, (autou) in Romans 3:7: Genitive Singular Masculine
αὐτοῦ, (autou) in Romans 3:7
Textual Witness
The witness reads αὐτοῦ in Romans 3:7 within the clause εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form keeps the focus on the referent of the glory clause, reinforcing that the claim is about God's glory in this argument.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, it is best rendered by an ordinary referring expression such as his, with the antecedent made clear by the context.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Genitive case here indicates relationship or reference, but the exact nuance comes from the clause and not from the case alone.
- Masculine grammatical gender is a form of agreement and reference, not a stand-alone theological statement.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word points to a referent already in view and does not name that referent by itself.
Genitive: the form usually marks a relationship such as possession, source, reference, or association, depending on context.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and points to one referent in the flow of the sentence.
Masculine: the form carries masculine grammatical marking, which here serves agreement and reference, not a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The form is attached to the phrase εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ and identifies whose glory is in view.
The genitive follows the prepositional phrase and most naturally connects with the implied referent of God's glory in the verse. Its exact relationship is best read from the sentence rather than from case alone.
It identifies the one whose glory is in view, so the phrase means glory belonging to or associated with him in context.
It does not by itself make a new subject, and it does not force a special doctrinal meaning beyond the referent supplied by the sentence.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive pronoun identifies whose glory is in view in a sentence weighing human falsehood and divine truth.
Genitive pronoun modifying glory. identifies glory as belonging to or associated with God in the argument. Attached to the his glory phrase. Governed by the prepositional phrase directed toward glory. The pronoun specifies the glory in view; the surrounding rhetorical question supplies the argument.
Whose glory is being spoken of? The pronoun points to God as the referent in the immediate argument.
Direct: The form directly supports his glory.
The genitive can mark relation without proving a narrow category such as ownership or source by itself. The referent is supplied by the paragraph, not by masculine grammatical form alone.
Genitive case alone proves agency or ownership: The form marks relation to glory; the immediate sentence determines the exact force.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads αὐτοῦ in Romans 3:7 within the clause εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ.
The lemma αὐτός is a common pronoun that can point emphatically or referentially, and here it simply marks the referent already active in the discourse.
The genitive form fits a relationship after the prepositional phrase and points back to God in the immediate context. Grammar supports that reference, but the sentence itself supplies the meaning.
The verse says the increase of truth through human falsehood is directed toward God's glory, so the pronoun helps specify whose glory is intended.
This use fits the broader Pauline habit of speaking about God's glory as the outcome or goal of divine action and argument.
For readers and translators, the form signals a backward-looking reference and helps the phrase read naturally as God's glory, not an abstract or detached glory.
Do not derive a separate theology from the masculine form, and do not treat genitive case alone as proof of ownership or agency.