New Testament Greek for Beginners

(Based on the book with the same title by Gresham Machen, The MacMillan Company, 1923)

References

70. The good word can be expressed in two common ways in Greek - either by ὁ ἀγαθός λόγος or by ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθός. It will be observed that what is characteristic about this attributive position of the Greek adjective is that the adjective comes immediately after the article. The former of the two alternatives, ὁ ἀγαθός λόγος, is just like English; it has the order (1) article, (2) attributive adjective, (3) noun, and is a literal translation of the good word. The latter of the two alternatives, ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθός, means literally the word - namely the good one. But it is of course vastly commoner than this cumbersome usage is in English, and like ὁ ἀγαθός λόγος should be translated simply the good word.