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Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by David Shaffer - Tuesday, 10 July 2012, 02:37 PM
  I am a student of the Bible and I try to research the Greek texts to better understand the true meaning. I am not a formal student of Greek, but try to study it on my own. I am having a difficult time understanding the difference between the use of charis (Strong's 5485) and charin (Strong's 5484). From my studies, throughout the New Testament when the English words "grace" and "favor" are found, the Greek word charis is used. When "grace" and "favor" are found in the Old Testament (the Hebrew word chen), the Septuagint uses the word charin. My studies say that charis is a noun and that charin is an adverb (in one place it calls it an imperfect preposition). I am having a difficult time understanding the difference between the two words, and why the Septuagint would use the Greek charin in the Old Testament to mean basically the same thing as the Greek charis in the New Testament. Can someone please help me understand the difference and why the different words would be used? I am stymied in my studies until I can resolve this question. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Greg Brush - Wednesday, 11 July 2012, 12:04 PM
  In the Koine Greek of the Biblical era, (την) χάριν was the accusative caseform of nominative (η) χάρις. Thus χάριν, as an accusative, was used as the direct object of a verb, or as the grammatical object of various prepositions which required the accusative case of their objects, while nominative χάρις was used as the grammatical subject of a sentence or clause.

In addition, accusative χάριν was used in the phrasing χάριν (+ genitive) meaning "for (the sake of), because (of), due (to)". In fact, even though nominative χάρις and accusative χάριν have now both been almost entirely replaced with demotic nominative and accusative (η/την) χάρη, you will still see χάριν used in this fossilized phrasing in the formal writing of our era.

Finally, keep in mind that the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was written several centuries before the Christian Bible, and thus there may well be some differences in Greek usage between the two. Furthermore, it is not entirely clear whether the Greek of the Septuagint reflects the commonly spoken Greek of its era, or is a more localized version, most likely from Alexandria, reflecting Greek use in that part of Egypt.

Regards,
Greg Brush
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by David Shaffer - Wednesday, 11 July 2012, 03:27 PM
  Greg,
Thank you for your response to my question. However, your response is way above my simple understanding. Could you please explain the difference between the two words in a simple way that someone like me could understand, someone who is not well verses on case, accusative, nominative, etc? I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you again.
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Greg Brush - Wednesday, 11 July 2012, 06:54 PM
  It's difficult for me to explain these differences if you don't understand the grammatical principles involved, but I'll do what I can.

In a language like Greek, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles change their form to indicate their grammatical function in a sentence. These changes usually occur in the word ending, although sometimes also within the word itself, and may be accompanied by changes in word stress. This process is known as "inflection" -- words are "inflected" to show their grammatical function. Nominative and accusative case are two of the various categories of inflection which such words undergo. In addition, there are also genitive, dative, and occasionally vocative caseforms in the Koine Greek of 2000 years ago.

The point of all this is that, depending on the grammatical function of a word in a sentence, it will change its form to indicate this function, as well as to indicate whether it's singular or plural in meaning. For a word such as χάρις, the other inflected forms in the singular are accusative χάριν (also χάριτα), genitive χάριτος, dative χάριτι. When the word is used as the subject of the sentence, nominative χάρις must be used. When used as the direct object of the verbal action or as the object of certain prepositions, it changes form to accusative χάριν (or χάριτα); when used as the object of certain other prepositions, it changes form to genitive χάριτος; when used as the indirect object of the verbal action or as the object of certain other prepositions it becomes dative χάριτι. The basic meaning always remains the same, the form of the word just changes according to its grammatical use.

This is exactly analogous to what happens with the English pronoun "I". When used as the subject of a sentence, we must use "I", but when used as the object of a verb or a preposition, "I" changes form to become "me", and when used to show possession becomes "mine":
I went to the store.
He hit me. [direct object of the verb "hit"]
Don't look at me! [object of the preposition "at"]
He gave me the book. [indirect object of the verb "give", where "book" is the direct object]
The book is now mine. [possessive form of I]
These are the caseforms of the pronoun "I" in English. The basic meaning remains the same, but the form of the word varies according to its use in a sentence.

Similarly in Greek with a noun such as χάρις.

Hope this helps,
Greg Brush
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by David Shaffer - Wednesday, 11 July 2012, 07:38 PM
  Yes. Thank you. I will need to reread what you have said to fully grasp the meaning. If I understand you correctly, the difference between charis and charin is not one of definition, but one of grammatical usage. Correct?
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Greg Brush - Wednesday, 11 July 2012, 09:46 PM
  Correct.

Here are some examples of χάριν, the accusative form of χάρις (grace, favor, mercy, gratitude, thanks) from the Greek New Testament using contemporary monotonic accentuation:
κατά την χάριν τού Θεού - according to the grace/mercy of God
διά την χάριν - through the grace/mercy (of)
την χάριν τού κυρίου ημών, Ιησού Χριστού - the mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ
Χάριν έχω τω θεώ - I have gratitude to God (i.e., I thank God)
δίδωσιν χάριν - [He] gives grace

In addition, χάριν itself was used in older Greek writings in the adverbial sense of "by the grace (of), by the mercy (of), thanks (to)", and may well be used in this way in the Septuagint, written several centuries before the Greek New Testament.

Regards,
Greg Brush
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by David Shaffer - Sunday, 22 July 2012, 11:00 PM
  Greg,
Thank you very much for your help. I believe I now understand. You help was invaluable.
Thanks again!
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Blake More - Monday, 23 July 2012, 11:01 AM
  I received a copy of this interesting correspondence about nouncases and I am emboldened to ask a question that has been on my mind for quite some time, namely, did the Greek language at any stage of it historical development have a formal (morphological) ablative case? My library resources are paltry so I have checked it out in very few grammars and I have found nothing. Please enlighten (?). Blake More
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Greg Brush - Monday, 23 July 2012, 02:10 PM
  No, Greek never had (at least in attested historical times going back to Homeric Greek) an ablative case. The ancient language had all the cases existing today plus a dative case.

Regards,
Greg Brush
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Re: Difference between χάρις and χάριν
by Blake More - Monday, 23 July 2012, 04:30 PM
  Greg Brush..........Thank you for this...............Blake More