Greek Textus Receptus
μὴ σὺ μείζων εἶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ, ὅστις ἀπέθανε; καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἀπέθανον· τίνα σεαυτὸν σὺ ποιεῖς;
Free Grace Translation
"You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, [are you]? And the prophets died; whom do you make yourself [out to be]?"
Bible Translation Notes
Grk. ἀπέθανεν...ἀπέθανον. These are aorist tense verbs, not nouns. Thus the correct translation in John 8:53 is "died" (as in most English Bibles), not "dead" (the rendering found in the KJV, NKJV, and also in the older English Bibles). The Greek word for "dead" is νεκρός (nekros); that is not the word used here. Commenting on John 8:53, A. T. Robertson consistently translates these verbs as "died" (see Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, p. 156; Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, 4th Edition, p. 728.)
Grk. τίνα. This interrogative pronoun is in the accusative case (not the nominative case), thus it is functioning as the direct object of the question, not the subject of the question. (The pronoun σεαυτὸν functions as the predicate accusative. See A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, p. 156.) What this means is that the correct translation of τίνα is not "Who?" but "Whom?" (as in most English Bibles, e.g. see John 8:53 in the Tyndale Bible, Geneva Bible, KJV, RV, ASV, NASB, etc.). In other words, the Jews are asking Jesus: "You are making yourself out to be WHOM?" The subject is σὺ = "You" (not τίνα), which corresponds with the verb ποιεῖς (present, active, indicative, second person singular) which also confirms that the subject is "You". Therefore it is not technically correct to translate the sentence as some English Bibles render it: "Who do you think you are?" (Jn. 8:53, NIV/NLT), or "Who do you make yourself out to be?" (Jn. 8:53, ESV), or "Who do you claim to be?" (Jn. 8:53, NET Bible). The correct rendering of the Greek interrogative pronoun τίνα is "Whom?" not "Who?" Commenting on John 8:53, Leon Morris affirms: "At the end of the verse NIV renders 'Who do you think you are?' but the force of the Greek is rather 'Whom do you make yourself out to be?' (so Bruce, p. 203)." (Morris, The Gospel According to John, Revised Edition, p. 417.) In English, "Who" is used for the subject (the one performing the action), while "Whom" is used for the object (the one receiving the action or being made out to be something). By using "Whom," we correctly identify Jesus as the object of the Jews' questioning.
Someone might try to argue that Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament supports the translation of τίνα as "Who" in John 8:53, but a closer look reveals otherwise. For the definition of τίς (nominative case!), Bauer correctly gives the meaning "who?" (Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd Edition, p. 1007). Bauer then references Lk. 5:21 as an example of this usage. (It's important to notice that in Luke 5:21, τίς is likewise in the nominative case!) After citing Lk. 5:21, Bauer lists a number of cross-references, including Jn. 8:53. But these are merely cross-references! (Bauer uses the abbreviation "Cp." meaning "compare".) In other words, Bauer isn't saying that Jn. 8:53 is a direct equivalent or a direct example of the nominative case τίς (meaning "who?"), but rather that John 8:53 provides a broader range of usage for that specific term. To use an analogy, a cross-reference is less like an "= sign" and more like a "hyperlink" to a related file. Thus, Bauer's use of "Cp." (Compare) indicates a thematic parallel, not a syntactic identity. He is linking the recurring question of identity across the New Testament corpus, not suggesting that the accusative τίνα should be treated as the nominative τίς.
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