OU DUNATAI hAMARTIAN in 1 John 3:9

CEP7 at aol.com CEP7 at aol.com
Wed Oct 20 17:00:18 EDT 1999



In a message dated 10/20/99 3:36:13 PM, dixonps at juno.com writes:

<< The force of the present tense in 1 Jn 3:9 is the same as it is
throughout the whole book and particularly 3:6-10.

In 3:6, PAS hO hAMARTANWN OUC hEWRAKEN AUTON OUDE
EGNWKEN AUTON.  

In 3:8, hO POIWN THN hAMARTIAN EK TOU DIABOLOU ESTIN.

In v. 10 the children of God and the children of the Devil are 
manifest by MH hAMARTANWN and hAMARTANWN respectively.

If the present tenses here can be taken in any other way than
as communicateing habitual/characteristic behavior, then I 
would like to see it. >>

While there is a lot of discussion on the present tense, I wonder if that 
should really be the issue. I actually prefer to see the present tenses as 
gnomic here. However, I suggest that THN hAMARTIAN actually refers to the 
specific sins that the false teachers were guilty of: denying that Jesus 
Christ has come in the flesh and hating the brethren. John could be saying 
that the one born of God does not commit these sins period.

Charles Powell
DTS
cep7 at aol.com



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