# I and my Wife and Paul’s Grammar
Author: Dwight Gingrich
Author URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/author/dwight-gingrich
Published: 2018-12-19
Category: Bible Bites [Exegesis]
Category URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/category/bible-bites-exegesis
Meta Title: I and my Wife and Paul's Grammar • Dwight Gingrich Online
Meta Description: In Greek: "ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς." In English: "Barnabas and I." That's how the ESV "corrects" Paul's good Greek grammar to make it good English grammar.
Tags: -, Bible translations, Greek, grammar
Tag URLs: - (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/-), Bible translations (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/bible-translations), Greek (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/greek), grammar (https://dwightgingrich.com/tag/grammar)
URL: https://dwightgingrich.com/i-my-wife-pauls-grammar

**“I and my wife are thankful God answered our prayers and gave us children.”**

Yes, “I and my wife.”

Now, grammar grumps, cool your fingers and curb your complaints. 🙂 I claim divine precedent for putting myself before my wife. Or at least scriptural precedent. Or at least Pauline precedent.

[![](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/rszapostle-paul-1721353355030-compressed.jpg)](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cltmr6s080011pelc74knn9b3/images/rszapostle-paul-1721353355030-compressed.jpg)

Oh, and I’m not relying on mere gender doctrine, either—which would actually tell me to put myself last. I have better justification for my grammar.

In 1 Corinthians 9:6, Paul wrote, “Is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?”

Except that isn’t what he actually wrote.

This is what he actually wrote: “μόνος ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς οὐκ ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν μὴ ἐργάζεσθαι;”

**In Greek: “ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς”** (“I and Barnabas”)

**In English: “Barnabas and I”**

That’s how the ESV “corrects” Paul’s good Greek grammar to make it good English grammar. The KJV and about a dozen other English translations retain Paul’s order, but most read like the ESV.

Surprisingly, however, here is the NIV: “I and Barnabas.”

Wow! I see no semantic reason for retaining the Greek order of these words, and the NIV places a high priority on using normal English language conventions. Yet here they are more hyper word-for-word than the ESV. What gives?

**At any rate, there you have it: Both Paul and the NIV give me permission to put myself first.**

**I and you will just have to get over it.**

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