"Helps by the Way.  No.  5.  The Greek Prepositions."  by Charles H.  Welch in
The Berean Expositor, circa 1912-13.  This installment: Dia.

"Helps by the Way.  No.  5.  The Greek Prepositions."  by Charles H.  Welch in
The Berean Expositor.

Dia. -- The primary idea of this preposition, governing the genitive case, is
expressed by the word "through," and this idea may be seen in the English
words which contain it, e.g., diagonal, diameter, diaphragm, &c. The following
passages will suffice to show this local meaning of "going through," viz.,
Matt. xii.1; xix.24; John iv.4; I Cor. x.1.

The transition is simple from this idea of motion through to the secondary
idea of a channel or medium through which the desired result is attained.
Examples abound; we cite only a few: John i.7; Acts 1.2; xii.38; Rom. iii.24;
Eph. ii.8; Col. i.20.  Something is willed and something is accomplished, and
the medium through which the will is carried into effect is expressed by the
word dia.  Winer observes:-

"Dia but rarely indicates the causa principalis (1 Cor. i.9), in other words,
is but rarely equivalent to hupo or para.  Even when it does indicate the
causa principalis it does not denote the author as a source of an act as such,
but strictly as the individual through whose agency or favour, &c., one has
obtained something (without specifying whether it flows from him directly or
indirectly)."

The mediatoral work of Christ in its many phases constantly calls for this
preposition (see Rom. v.1; Eph. i.7; Phil. i.11, &c.).  Such passages as I
Cor. xv.21; Mark ii.27; I Cor. xi.9 should be studied to catch the bearing of
this preposition upon the teaching, remembering that I Cor. xv.21 must not be
translated without due consideration of, say, the same preposition in I Cor.
xi.9.  (Mark ii.27 and I Cor. xi.29 have the accusative case -- see below).
The ek pisteos and the dia tes pisteos of Rom. iii.30 show "the uncircumcised
as justified by the direct and unqualified instrumentality of the identical
faith which operates in the case of the circumcised."

Matt. i.22 (A.V.) reads, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the
Lord by the prophet."  The English reader could not be positive as to whether
the prophet spoke or the Lord spoke.  The R.V. attends to the meaning of the
prepositions more carefully here and reads, "spoken by (hupo) the Lord through
(dia) the prophet."  This witness to the verbal inspiration of Scripture is
found in (R.V.) Matt. ii.5, 15, 23; iv.14; viii.17; xii.17, &c., in all which
places "through" is a better rendering of dia than "by." "With patience" (Rom.
viii.25), if rendered "through patience," would show that patience is the
medium whereby faith and hope are enabled to bridge the interval of waiting
(see also Heb. xii.1).

When dia is applied to time, the basic idea of motion-through is still
retained, and can be felt in the word "during."  See "during all their life"
(Heb. ii.15); "during forty days" (Acts i.3); "during the night" (Acts v.19).
Sometimes the sense demands the word "after," but even then the idea of going
through the stated time is retained.  "After three days" (Matt. xxvi.61, so
Mark ii.1; Gal. ii.1).

Dia governing an accusative case indicates primarily the ground of an action,
and the aim or end only in a secondary way.  Consider Matt. xv.3; Rev. xii.11;
Rom. iv.2.  This last passage contains an important truth.  The Lord Jesus was
not raised again in order to procure justification, but on the ground that the
work of redemption was finished on the cross.  Hence the rendering, "raised
again because of our justification," is preferable.

"For ....'s sake" is a frequent rendering.  See Matt. x.22; xxiv.22; Rom.
xv.30; 2 Cor. iv.5; 2 Tim. ii.10; I John ii.12, &c.  Dia touto (literally
"through this," or "on the ground of this") is translated "therefore."

As examples which will repay careful study, the reader is directed to Rom.
iv.25 (the two cases); John vi.57; 2 Tim. ii.2; 1 Tim. iv.14; Rom. iii.25;
iv.11; xiv.14; Gal. iv.13; 1 Thess. iv.14; Phil. i.15.  Dia in composition is
often emphatic and heightens the original meaning, e.g., katharizo means to
cleanse, diakatharizo means to thoroughly cleanse, to cleanse right through.

The reader should consider diagnosis, diatheke (in conjunction with
diatithemi, and diatlemenos), diameno, &c.