hOUTWS Jn3.16 "In this way"
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Apr 1 20:18:59 EST 2000
At 3:41 PM -0600 4/1/00, Joseph A. Weaks wrote:
>At 8:35 AM -0600 4/1/00, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>>Technically speaking it is true that hOUTWS is the adverb for
>>hOUTOS/hAUTH/TOUTO and means "thus" or "so" or "in this manner."
>>...I think that what puzzles me most about this insistence that hOUTWS in
>>this
>>instance is devoid of any implication of extent
>>...I still think that in John 3:16 the distinction between quality
>>and quantity has become moot, and that to insist on it is tantamount
>>to making a molehill out of a mountain.
>
>All true, except for one thing. My emphasis (not so much an
>"insistence") is not merely academic. The majority of church members
>ONLY hear John 3:16 taken out of context. I'd say that 90% of the
>folks in the 4 churches I've served have ONLY understood the hWSTE as
>a Result Clause of the intensive extent of hOUTWS (ie. God sending
>God's son is a result of how much God loved us). The context of the
>analogy with Moses does make clear that there is at least some
>emphasis on a correlative "in this way" (even if only 60%/40%). So,
>as an interpreter, and as their pastor, it is my vocation to give
>voice to this forgotten aspect.
>Let me suggest that for me to do so is an attempt to bring the
>congregation closer to an authentic reading of a text, rather than
>"making a molehill out of a mountain."
I think we may have to agree to disagree on this one. I will go with you to
the extent that I agree it is better to understand a whole complex of text
rather than an isolated "proof text." What I, for my part, am not willing
to concede is that there is some distinct emphasis on MANNER in the hOUTWS
of John 3:16. I see a different emphasis in the usage in verses 14 and 15
where the correlative clauses are introduced by KAQWS and hOUTWS so that a
parallel is drawn between the visible sign of the serpent raised by Moses
in the wilderness and the raising-up of the Son of Man (on the cross) as a
visible sign (although the key analogon is the verb hUYOUN), but frankly, I
can discern no relationship between the hOUTWS of verse 16 and the hOUTWS
of verse 14.
14 KAI KAQWS MWUSHS hUYWSEN TON OFIN EN THi ERHMWi, hOUTWS hUYWQHNAI DEI
TON hUION TOU ANQRWPOU, 15 hINA PAS hO PISTEUWN EN AUTWi ECHi ZWHN AIWNION.
16 hOUTWS GAR HGAPHSEN hO QEOS TON KOSMON, hWSTE TON hUION TON MONOGENH
EDWKEN, hINA PAS hO PISTEUWN EIS AUTON MH APOLHTAI ALL' ECHI ZWHN AIWNION.
I realize that there are others like yourself who think there's some
particular advantage or value in underscoring that hOUTWS in John 3:16
means "in this way" and suppose that manner rather than extent is its
focus. My own sense here is rather that hOUTWS ... hWSTE constitutes a
standard "consecutive" pattern having an emphatic adverb in an initial
clause followed by hWSTE with an infinitive or an indicative verb in a
result clause. For that reason, I cannot see that the 90% of the folks in
the churches are sorely misunderstanding John 3:16 if they see it as
saying, "God sooooo... loved ..." I think that the point you're making is
one that can be argued, but I personally don't think it so cogent that the
understanding of lay people needs to be corrected from this exegesis.
--
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/
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