[Grammar] The Function of the Comma in a Long Sentence

[gunashekar]

My question is regarding the function of the comma in a biblical text: Ephesians 1:9 - "having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:"^ now, I think "which" here refers to "his will"... that He has purposed his will in himself. But I have doubts... "which" might as well refer to "his good pleasure", right? ...that He has purposed his good pleasure in himself...? Could you please help me with this confusion?!1. what does the word "which" refer to here - his will or his good pleasure or both?2. what if we put a comma after the word "pleasure" - would that make the word "which" refer to something else than what it did otherwise?3. what if the word "will" is not followed by a comma... what if we take it off? ...would that make the word "which" refer to something else than what it did otherwise?4. Is it rather the case that the use of commas doesn't matter when it comes to what the word "which" would refer to in this sentence and that we are left to decide purely based on the context and appropriateness?Please give me some general principles which would apply in all cases like this (because I seem to come across cases like this now and then in my readings), so that I would be able to readily understand sentences like these with relative ease.

 

[emsr2d2]

My question is regarding the function of the comma in a biblical text: Ephesians 1:9 - "having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:"

[STRIKE]^[/STRIKE] This symbol does not belong here.

Now, I think "which" here refers to "his will", that He has purposed his will in himself. But I have doubts - "which" might [STRIKE]as well[/STRIKE] also refer to "his good pleasure", [STRIKE]right?[/STRIKE] meaning that He has purposed his good pleasure in himself, right?

Could you please help me with this confusion? [STRIKE]![/STRIKE]

1. What does the word "which" refer to here - his will or his good pleasure or both?

2. What if we put a comma after the word "pleasure"? Would that make the word "which" refer to something else? [STRIKE]than what it did otherwise?[/STRIKE]

3. What if the word "will" [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] were not followed by a comma? What if we take it off? Would that make the word "which" refer to something else? [STRIKE]than what it did otherwise?[/STRIKE]

4. Is it rather the case that the use of commas doesn't matter when it comes to what the word "which" would refer to in this sentence and that we are left to decide purely based on the context and appropriateness?

Please give me some general principles [STRIKE]which[/STRIKE] that would apply in all cases like this (because I seem to come across cases like this now and then in my readings), so that I [STRIKE]would[/STRIKE] will be able to readily understand sentences like these with relative ease.

Please note my corrections, comments, and improvements to the layout of your post above. You will note that I have removed every ellipsis. None were required. We don't connect sentences with strings of dots.

I read it to mean that "which" refers to "his good pleasure". If that's the case, these days we would use "that" there. If there were a comma after "pleasure", then "which" would refer to "his will". I'm not sure I'd be able to make any sense of it if there were no comma after "will".

I'm no biblical scholar though. I searched through the many different versions available here and, to be honest, I'm none the wiser.