2John 7
Steven Craig Miller
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Sat Dec 18 12:40:38 EST 1999
To: Dmitriy Reznik,
<< Will you please help me with 2John 7? hOTI POLLOI PLANOI EISELQON EIS
TON KOSMON hOI MH hOMOLOGOUNTES IHSOUN CRISTON ERCOMENON EN SARKI... (
because many leading astray did enter into the world, who are not
confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh... Does this "coming in flesh"
refers to the future (He is now coming, so He is going to arrive)? Does it
mean that some false teachers used to teach that the second coming will be
not in flesh? >>
There are three major ways one can understand/translate the object of the
verb hOMOLOGOUNTES: (a) as one object -- "Jesus Christ coming in the
flesh"; (b) as two objects -- "Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh"; or (c)
as two objects -- "Jesus as the Christ coming in the flesh."
It should be remembered that the present participle is timeless and is not
used to mark something necessarily happening in the present. Thus there are
two major interpretations of the present participle ERCOMENON as referring
to the past, or as referring to the future.
Also, the idiom EN SARKI might mean nothing more than "in person" (cf. Col
2:1).
So, although there are many possibilities here, one possibility might be:
"For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess
that Jesus is the Christ who comes in person" (1 John 7a MOT).
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree),
what do I know?"
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