Βίβλος (Biblos) in Matthew 1:1: Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
Βίβλος (Biblos) in Matthew 1:1
Textual Witness
The Textus Receptus reading here is Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, with the noun standing first in the verse.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form strengthens the sense that the verse begins with a title or record-like opening, but the surrounding genitives carry the specific subject matter.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, the form can be explained as the opening noun of a heading, helping readers recognize that the verse introduces a written account.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Feminine gender here is grammatical, not a theological gender claim.
- Case and number help describe the phrase, but they do not by themselves settle the full meaning.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a thing or textual reality, here a written document or volume.
Nominative: the form usually marks the subject or a predicate/complement role in the clause, and here it introduces the verse's opening statement.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, presenting one book or record as a unit.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which does not by itself create a gendered theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Βίβλος γενέσεως
The nominative form fits the opening phrase as the clause's main nominal expression, while the following genitive phrase specifies its content.
It functions as the leading noun that frames the verse as the presentation of a written account or record.
It is not best read as changing the lemma or forcing a theological conclusion from case or gender alone.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The noun frames the verse as an opening record or heading for the genealogy.
Heading noun. introduces the written account or record. Attached to the opening book or record phrase. Governed by the title-like opening of the Gospel. The following genitives specify the content, so the noun should not be isolated from the whole heading.
What kind of opening phrase begins the verse? The noun begins a record-like heading for the genealogy.
Direct: The heading function supports renderings such as 'book,' 'record,' or 'account' depending on translation context.
The noun can be rendered in several ways, so the heading and genitive phrase should guide the English choice.
Book must mean a modern bound volume: The term opens a record-like heading here; modern book assumptions should not be imposed on the form.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The Textus Receptus reading here is Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, with the noun standing first in the verse.
The lemma βίβλος denotes a book, roll, or written volume, so the word naturally points to a textual or documentary idea.
The nominative singular form works with the genitive phrase to present the content of the record, not to supply all meaning by itself.
The verse opens by identifying the material as a written account connected with Jesus Christ and the lineage language that follows.
This suits the canonical habit of introducing a document or record with a heading-like noun before giving its specific subject matter.
For readers, the grammar helps signal that the verse is framing an account, so the line should be heard as an introductory label with content that unfolds after it.
Do not derive a doctrine, a hidden subject assignment, or a gender-based meaning from the feminine nominative form alone.