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auton in John 1.10



I'm wondering if you can help me?  I am stumped by the use of auton in John
1.10.  The pronouns, in 1.7,10 are all, with the exception of auton, sufficient
ly ambiguous to be neuter or masculine.  Thus, di'autou (1.7) could mean throug
h "something neuter" (the light, presumably) or "something masculine" (logos,
but this hasn't been used since 1.1?).  Again, di'autou in 1.10 could have the
same confusion.  And,then, wham! auton, which, cannot of course refer to the
light (neuter).  But, there is nothing that makes one suspect that 1.10 is
talking about anything other than light.  Is this an attempt to hint that the
light that the author is talking about is actually personal?  Was this even
a possible way of expressing such a hint in the literature of the period?

Brown, of course, suggests that the di'autou and auton of 10 both refer to the
Logos from 1-5.  Thus, he suggests that 1.6-9 are parenthetical and that 1.10
again picks up the poem that was cut off in 1.5.

The problem is that the text does not seem to read easily like that.  In fact,
the N-A 26th has only 6-8 as a separate paragraph.  And, not to make a textual
edition canonical, it is also the case that 1.10 doesn't appear to pick up 1.5
best, but rather 1.9 (which Brown considers still part of the parenthesis).

So, while Brown's explanation is the most easy (autou and auton simply refer
to logos), my grammatical sense tells me that it's not quite that easy.  Any
thoughts?  It may just be that I am missing something very easy.  (The fact
that Brown essentially answers the question without discussing it and Barrett
doesn't even RAISE the question, makes me wonder whether I am just blind at
this point!  Anyway, I can stand to be corrected. :-)

(NB: I am posting this to B-GREEK and the Johannine Literature list in order to
catch someone who can shed some light on this question.)

Greetings,
L. Gregory Bloomquist

Faculty of Theology   | Faculte de theologie
Saint Paul University | Universite Saint-Paul
(University of Ottawa | Universite d'Ottawa)
223 Main, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 1C4  CANADA

Internet: GBLOOMQ@ACADVM1.UOTTAWA.CA     iNET: DR.BLOOMQUIST
Fax: (613) 236-4108    Voice: (613) 782-3027 / (613) 236-1393