John 3.34 - GAR
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Dec 7 20:22:28 EST 1999
At 1:46 PM +1300 12/8/99, N & RJ Hanscamp wrote:
>In some exegesis I am doing I came across the following phrase: (John 3.34)
>
>hON GAR APESTEILEN hO QEOS TA RHMATA TOU QEOU LALEI, OU GAR EK METROU
>DIDWSIN TO PNEUMA.
>
>I wonder if others would take this phrase as being that the ability to speak
>the words of God comes from the Spirit which is given.
>
>I know that there is some controversy over who is given the Spirit (Jesus,
>John the Baptist, or the believer), but what I am questioning is whether the
>empowerment to speak the words comes from the Spirit. Is this the emphasis
>of the GAR in the second phrase.
I suppose one might argue this proposition, but within its own immediate
context the clause, hON ... APESTEILEN hO QEOS is not generalized (that
might be hON AN APOSTELLHi hO QEOS or, with an aorist, hON AN APOSTEILHi hO
QEOS) should only be understood, I think, as concrete and referring to
Jesus rather than to "apostles" generally.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list