The thesis of this dissertation is that, in the New Testament Pauline letters, the article is used with a noun only if the writer assumes identifiability on the part of the reader, and does not wish to give prominence to the constituent concerned. Otherwise, the anarthrousness of a constituent that is assumed by the author to be known and identifiable marks its focal (or, less frequently, thematic) prominence. The understanding of this principle brings clarity to the presence or absence of the article in a number of puzzling circumstances, and therefore aids in the exegesis of many passages in the literature. The body of the dissertation first surveys important literature in the traditional study of the Greek article. It also looks at the theories of a number of well-known and prominent modern linguists as regards identifiability, and its relation to article use for languages that have articles. The principle of identifiability is here asserted as the key principle for article use with individual nouns in Greek. Next, the dissertation proposes constituent order in functional linguistics as an alternative to statistically based studies. Also, of importance here is the discussion of topic and topicalization, focus and dominant focal element, and prominence. All this provides a context for the subsequent consideration of the article in terms of non-identifiability, identifiability and focal (and thematic) prominence. These principles are then applied to a number of passages from the literature to demonstrate their veracity. Finally, recommendations are made for a number of categories of traditional grammar of the Greek article, some of which need modification or significant change, while others could be eliminated altogether. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]