BIOS in Jo 2:16
Carlton Winbery
winberyc at speedgate.net
Sat Oct 23 12:59:18 EDT 1999
Maurice O'Sullivan replied;
>>Maybe you could help me to understand the expression ALAZONEIA TOU BIOU in
>>Jo 1:16?
>
>You did mean to type 1 Jo. 2:16, didn't you? <g>
>
>It's not clear to me whether it is the English or the Greek which is
>puzzling you,
>Perhaps the English? --- I don't blame you, "vainglory" is a _very_ old
>word, and for me has the ring of a Shakespearean play.
>Indeed, I see that the SOED has this citation:
> SHAKES. Timon : What needs these feasts, pomps, and vainglories?
>
>As for the Greek,
>ALAZONEIA occurs twice in the NT: ! John 2:16, and Js. 4:16
>The BAGD definition is:
>pretension, arrogance in word and deed
>
>It appears 7 times in the LXX, but always in the very late literature,
>Maccabees and once in Wisdom.
>
>The NRSV tranlsates:
>in 1 Jn "pride in riches"
>in Js. "arrogance"
>
>both a lot clearer to modern ears than "vainglory" <g>
This is helpful information. I would add a further note. BIOS also occurs
in 1 Jn 3:17, hOS D' AN ECHi TON BION TOU KOSMOU KAI . . . . "If anyone has
the BIOS of the world . . ." It seems to me that in this sentence BIOS must
mean something like "what is necessary to support life in the world" or
"enough to eat." I would suggest that back in 2:16 the full phrase hH
ALAZONEIA TOU BIOU probably indicates pride in one's accomplishments in
gaining the things associated with life in the world, using world in the
Johannine sense of the natural world apart from God. Or as Maurice suggests
from RSV pride in riches (that one has amassed).
Dr. Carlton L. Winbery
Foggleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
winbery at andria.lacollege.edu
winbery at speedgate.net
Ph. 1 318 448 6103 hm
Ph. 1 318 487 7241 off
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