Cheryl Schatz

@163 Kristen,
You said:

But I still have some questions. First, are there any articles in Koine Greek equivalent to the English “this” or “that”?

Yes. Houtos means this and you can find this word in Acts 6:13:

Acts 6:13 (NAS) They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;

Here it is a demonstrative pronoun.

In other words, I have had trouble believing that Paul would say simply “woman” (which is translated “a woman”) when what he meant was “that woman.”

It isn’t necessary in Greek to say “this” woman or “that” woman. In Acts 6:13 the demonstrative pronoun was used to identify which man was the culprit and their anger also was a reason to use the term “this man”. But Paul is not standing beside the woman to say “this woman” as if there were many options. Timothy did not need Paul to name her, nor did he need Paul to say “this” woman, not “that” one. The problem woman teacher was a clearly identifiable issue to both of them.

Here is another case where Paul identifies a specific man without saying “the man” or “this man”:

2 Corinthians 12:2 (NAS) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.

Most interpret this as Paul as the unidentified “man”. The Greek term is anthropos which means person or it can mean a generic man. But in this passage we can understand that Paul isn’t saying that any man was caught into heaven. It was a specific man but Paul did not want to name him and most people that he didn’t name him because it was Paul himself. If Paul isn’t going to identify himself, and he wants the “man” to remain unnamed, then he isn’t going to say, I know “this” man in Christ…

In English, we can say “a woman” can or can’t do something, and mean it collectively, even though the construction is singular. It is my understanding that this can also occur in ancient Greek– which is the source of my reservations. Generally when we mean a specific unnamed person, we say “this person” not “a person.”

A person without the definite article in Greek can mean a generic person or a specific person. It depends on the context.

But if the Greek doesn’t have a way to say “this person” or “that person,” that would make sense.

It does have the word for “this” but not only is it not necessary, but it would be used in person, not so much in writing. Timothy for sure knew who she was.

I know you mentioned that in 1 Cor 5, Paul says “a man has his father’s wife,” and is referring to a specific man– but in the Greek, the word “man” does not appear in this passage. The phrase is not “aner has his father’s wife,” but actually says “someone has his father’s wife.” So I’m wondering if anywhere else in the New Testament, the word “man” or “woman” by itself can be used to refer to a specific man or woman when the context does not make it clear.

In 2 Cor 12:2 that was given above, the “person” or “a man” is on the same level as 1 Timothy 2:12. In the Timothy passage, we can know that the woman is a specific woman because of the specific grammar in verses 14 & 15. In the 2 Cor. 12:2 passage, we can know it is a specific man because Paul says in verse 5 that he is boasting on behalf of that man.

Notice also in this passage that the terms 2 Cor. 12:2, 3, 5 “such a man” is used three times. This is the same term as 1 Cor 5:1.

More to come….