Keeping the New Testament Greek, attributive adjective “position” classifications straight in one’s head can be challenging, but here is a short summary (see Porter 117):

  1. Article-adjective-substantive (e.g., ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος),
  2. Article-substantive-article-adjective (e.g., ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθὸς),
  3. Substantive-article-adjective (e.g., ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθὸς),
  4. Adjective-substantive or substantive-adjective (e.g., ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος or ἄνθρωπος ἀγαθὸς).

In contrast to these four basic patterns, the potentially legitimate structure article-adjective-article-substantive (e.g., ὁ ἀγαθὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος) is not used ( Mounce §9.12).

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_1987” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“William Mounce”] William Mounce[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1988” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Stanley Porter”] Stanley Porter[/caption]