te^n arche^n in John 8:25

Jason Hare parousia_occ at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 5 01:31:10 EDT 2000


<< I am hestitant to raise this question fearing it might have already 
been
well-discussed in the past.  But I could find no evidence in the archives.
I find the "adverbial" use of te^n arche^n in John 8:25 quite odd.  Could
someone shed some light on the meaning of this construction in this 
context?  I have already read the discussion in BAGD.  I am looking for 
more help than that.

te^n arche^n ho ti kai lalo^ humin

thanks,

R. William Dickson+ >>

There is an entire section on the "adverbial accusative" in Daniel 
Wallace's _Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics_, pp. 200-201.  It gives other 
examples that you might note:

————————————————————————————————————————
Matthew 10:18
do^rean elabete, do^rean dote
DWREAN ELABETE, DWREAN DOTE
_freely_ you received, _freely_ give.

Galatians 2:21
ei gar dia nomou dikaiosune^, ara Christos do^rean apethanen
EI GAR DIA NOMOU DIKAIOSUNH, ARA CRISTOS DWREAN APEQANEN
for if justification comes by law, then Christ dies _for nothing_.

Matthew 6:33
ze^teite de pro^ton te^n basileian tou theou
ZHTEITE DE PRWTON THN BASILEIAN TOU QEOU
but seek _first_ the kingdom of God.

John 10:10
ego^ e^lthon hina zo^e^n echo^sin kai perisson echo^sin
EGW HLQON hINA ZWHN ECWSIN KAI PERISSON ECWSIN
I have come that they might have life and they might have [it] _more 
abundantly_.

Philippians 3:1
to loipon, adelphoi mou, chairete en kurio^
TO LOIPON, ADELFOI MOU, CAIRETE EN KURIWi
_finally_, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

(Matt 8:30 [MAKRAN]; 9:14 [POLLA]; 15:16 [AKMHN]; Luke 17:25 [PRWTON]; John 
1:41 [PRWTON]; Acts 27:20 [LOIPON]; 2 Cor 13:11 [LOIPON])
————————————————————————————————————————

I think that the most relevant to your point are ones like Matthew 6:33, 
where PRWTOS {pro^tos) is used to say "at the first."  Your verse says, 
"What did I tell you even 'at the beginning' (THN ARCHN [te^n arche^n])?"

I hope this helps.  It helped me when I was at that point in translating 
John's gospel.

God's grace be with you!
¡La gracia de Dios esté contigo!

Jason Hare
Ozark Christian College
parousia_occ at yahoo.com



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