# G3778 - houtos **Strong's:** G3778 · *houtos* (masculine), *hautē* (feminine), *touto* (neuter) **Pronunciation:** *HOO-tos* **Part of speech:** demonstrative pronoun and adjective, "this," "this one," "he" **Opposite number:** *ekeinos*, "that one" ## Semantic range *Houtos* points. It can point at something in front of the speaker ("this man") or back at something just mentioned in the sentence ("this one," "the same"). Nothing in the word itself says *which* person or thing it points to; context does that. 1. **Pointing in the scene.** "This is my beloved Son" ([Matthew 3:17](/codex/matthew-3-17/)), spoken over Jesus at his baptism; "Is not this he that... made havoc of them that called on this name?" ([Acts 9:21](/codex/acts-9-21/)), said of Saul by people looking at him. 2. **Pointing back in the text.** "The same was in the beginning with God" ([John 1:2](/codex/john-1-2/), ASV): *houtos* picks up the Word of 1:1. The ASV and KJV "the same" is a good English rendering of this resumptive use. 3. **The identification formula *houtos estin*, "this is."** It names who someone really is: "this is the Son of God" ([John 1:34](/codex/john-1-34/)); "this is indeed the Saviour of the world" ([John 4:42](/codex/john-4-42/)); "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ" ([1 John 5:6](/codex/1-john-5-6/)). 4. **As an adjective.** "This bread," "this cup," "this world," the ordinary use with a noun. ## How the referent is decided The usual default is the nearest suitable person or thing already in view, but it is a default, not a law. Two tests settle real cases: - **Proximity.** Which candidate stands nearest? Most of the time the closest named person is the one meant. - **Fit with what is said about it.** The predicate has to be true of the referent. In [2 John 7](/codex/2-john-7/) the nearest named person is "Jesus Christ," yet "This is the deceiver and the antichrist" plainly points to the deceivers described just before, because the predicate cannot fit Christ. Sense overrides proximity when they conflict. This matters because both sides of the most important *houtos* debate appeal to it. ## 1 John 5:20 ![Diagram of 1 John 5:20: the sentence with "him that is true" and "his Son Jesus Christ" highlighted, then two boxes setting out the reasons for reading "this" as the Father and as Jesus Christ](/codex/assets/houtos-1-john-5-20-antecedent-diagram.svg) _The two candidate referents of houtos in [1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/), with the evidence for each as set out on this page. Diagram drawn for the codex._ > And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. ([1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/), ASV) *Houtos estin ho alēthinos theos kai zōē aiōnios*: does "this" mean Jesus Christ, named immediately before, or the Father, "him that is true"? - **For Jesus Christ.** Proximity favors him, since "his Son Jesus Christ" is the last-named person. The predicate also fits him in John's own vocabulary: the same letter opened by calling Christ "the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" ([1 John 1:2](/codex/1-john-1-2/)), and it has just said "this life is in his Son" (5:11). Earlier in the same chapter John used exactly the same formula, *houtos estin*, of Jesus Christ (5:6). - **For the Father.** "Him that is true" has just been used twice of the Father, and Jesus calls the Father "the only true God" in [John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/). On this reading *houtos* gathers up the Father as the subject of the whole sentence. - **The honest state of the question.** The grammar permits both readings, and careful scholars have taken each. Murray J. Harris, *Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus* (1992), gives the fullest treatment of the verse's grammar and the case on each side. The [2 John 7](/codex/2-john-7/) example shows proximity alone cannot settle it; it is the Johannine pattern of calling Christ "the life" that tips the balance, which is why Calvin, among many others, read the verse of Christ. The codex's exegesis is on [1 John 5.20](/codex/1-john-5-20/). - **What not to claim.** Do not say "*houtos* always takes the nearest antecedent." It does not, and an informed opponent will cite [2 John 7](/codex/2-john-7/). Say instead that the nearest antecedent and John's own use of "eternal life" converge on Christ. ## Does Paul use *houtos* of Jesus? Yes, though it is not his characteristic way of pointing to Christ. - **In his letters.** The clearest case is [1 Corinthians 2:2](/codex/1-corinthians-2-2/): "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (*kai touton estaurōmenon*, "and this one crucified"), with the accusative form *touton*. - **In his preaching as Acts reports it.** Luke summarizes Paul's message with the identification formula: "he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God" ([Acts 9:20](/codex/acts-9-20/), *houtos estin ho huios tou theou*); "proving that this is the Christ" ([Acts 9:22](/codex/acts-9-22/)); "this Jesus, whom... I proclaim unto you, is the Christ" ([Acts 17:3](/codex/acts-17-3/)). - **His usual confessional pointer is the relative pronoun.** When Paul makes high claims about Christ he typically writes "who" (*hos*): "who, existing in the form of God" ([Philippians 2:6](/codex/philippians-2-6/)); "who is the image of the invisible God" ([Colossians 1:15](/codex/colossians-1-15/)); "who is the beginning" ([Colossians 1:18](/codex/colossians-1-18/)). In [Romans 9:5](/codex/romans-9-5/) the phrase "who is over all, God blessed for ever" uses the articular participle *ho ōn*, not *houtos*. - **A word of caution on counts.** A bare tally of Paul's uses of *houtos* says little, because most of them point to things ("this world," "this cause," "this grace") rather than persons, and because Strong's numbering scatters the forms across several entries. The question that matters for Christology is never "how often" but "to whom, in this sentence." ## Apologetic load - **[1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/) is a strong text for the deity of Christ, and it is strongest when argued from John's usage rather than from a grammatical rule.** Pair it with [John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/) and [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/), where no pronoun question arises. - **The identification formula carries the early proclamation.** "This is the Son of God," "this is the Christ": the first preaching, from the voice at the Jordan to Paul in the synagogues of Damascus, consists of pointing at one man and saying who he is. ## Related words - [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/), the predicate noun in [1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/) - [G2222 - zoe](/codex/g2222-zoe/), "eternal life," the other half of the predicate - [G3056 - logos](/codex/g3056-logos/), the Word picked up by *houtos* in [John 1:2](/codex/john-1-2/) - [G1510 - eimi](/codex/g1510-eimi/), the verb in the *houtos estin* formula ## See also - [1 John 5.20](/codex/1-john-5-20/), the full exegesis of the contested verse - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), the wider case - [Jesus Has a God Therefore Not God Objection Defeater](/codex/jesus-has-a-god-therefore-not-god-objection-defeater/), where [1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/) is deployed - [Christian God is the Only True God](/codex/christian-god-is-the-only-true-god/), on "the only true God" language