matters not whether Theos be derived from the Sanscrit or from the Greek Tithemi, for

they are alike false, because they originate in and lead to darkness.

"God" is explained by such additional titles as "The Living God", "The True God",

"The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob",

"The Most High God", "The Incorruptible God", and "The Almighty God".

Quite irrespective of the meaning of the word Theos, the nature of God is given in a

threefold revelation: "God is Spirit", "God is Light", "God is Love".  He is further

denominated  "The God of Glory",  "The God of Patience",  "The God of Hope",

"The God of Peace" and "The God of all Grace".  It is, moreover, insisted that God is

"no respecter of persons". For all that it still remains true, that

The Apostle addresses this epistle to "the saints" (tois hagiois).  The English

translation demands the insertion of the article before the "will of God", but in the

original it appears for the first time in the phrase "to the saints". The reader will note that

both words (tois and hagiois) end with similar letter. The ending ois may indicate either

the plural or the dative. However, we have already touched upon the meaning of the

dative on page 29 (April, 1942) of this Volume, and we must now turn our attention to

the definite article "the".

We are met at the outset with a great variety of opinions among grammarians. There

are some, like Bishop Middleton, who maintain that the article is always used in

compliance with the strictest rules, while there are others who declare that the use of the

article is guided by no rule at all. Originally the article was a demonstrative pronoun

"that", and we should remember that there is still a remnant of this meaning in most of its

occurrences. The phrase "Bring the book", for example, can never refer to the bringing

of any book, but rather to some particular book ("that book") which has been indicated

by position, colour, subject, etc.

In English the definite article remains unchanged whatever the noun, but this is not so

in the Greek. Many readers will be acquainted with the three forms of the French article

le, la, les (Mas. Sing., Fem. Sing., and Plural). Similarly in Greek we have ho, he, to

(Mas., Fem., and Neuter), the form of the article changing with the noun before which it

stands. Ho logos, for example (Mas. Sing. Nom.) becomes tou logou when in the

Genitive. The sign of the dative is oi ("iota subscript"), and this becomes ois in the

plural, as in Eph. 1: 1. The corresponding dative plural of the definite article, whether

masculine or neuter, is tois.