gunashekar
New member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2020
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Telugu
- Home Country
- India
- Current Location
- India
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.