Why does my source say teknon instead of tekna in I Timothy 3:4?
Question:
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your labor and articles. Recently my brother sent me this article: Must elders have more than one child? In this article, you state: "The Greek word in both I Timothy 3:4 and in Titus 1:6 is tekna." I follow the logic, but when I checked (according to my software), the Greek term is not tekna, but teknon. Since I'm not familiar with Greek I could be missing something, so I thought it would be good to check with you.
Thanks so much for your time and help.
Answer:
You are looking at a Strong's reference. Strong gives only the root word and not its various forms. For example, in English "like" is a root word from which we derive: liked, likes, liking, unlike, likable, etc. To a non-English speaker, some of these forms might not look like they come from the same root word.
The root word in I Timothy 3:4 and Titus 1:6 is teknon, but the actual form of the word being used in both passages is tekna. Tekna is the nominative and accusative form of teknon in the plural neuter. "Neuter" means the word doesn't refer to a particular gender. Teknon is also nominative and accusative but is a singular neuter word.
Other forms of the same root word are:
- teknou generative singular neuter
- teknõ dative singular neuter
- teknõn generative plural neuter
- teknois dative plural neuter
