LALIAN vs LOGON
Jonathan B. Ferguson
DunamisTheou at aol.com
Sun Aug 25 20:46:51 EDT 2002
Hello,
I have Spiros Zodhiates's _The Complete WordStudy New Testament_. A
few months ago I read this statment regarding LALIAN and LOGON: "A
problematic passage is John 8:43 in which we have both lalia and logos
spoken by our Lord. The context referred to was when Jesus was debating
with the Pharisees. They were listening to what He had to say, but they
were not capable of undersatnding because they did not want to understand.
The Lord said to them, 'Why do ye not undersatnd my speech (lalian)?' In
other words, 'What I am saying to you is as if it had no meaning
whatsoever.' And why did it have no meaning? The reason is explained in
the balance of the paragraph, 'Even because ye cannot hear my word
(logon),' or better still, 'Because you cannot understand and obey (akouo
[191]) my logon (speech with its intended meaning).' Hence, those who
will not give rrom in their heartrs to His truth wil not undersatnd His
speech or utterance, the outward form of His language which His Word
(logos) assumes." (Zodhiates, _The Complete WordStudy New Testament_, 918)
I like what he says. However, when I looked at the _Friberg Greek
Lexicon_, it said regarding LALIA "in the NT always in a good sense." So,
I was wondering if anyone could help me to see if what Zodhiates was
correct, or if perhaps he made an error by reading too much into John
8:43. Thanks :)
in Christ,
Jonathan B. Ferguson
DunamisTheou at aol.com
1 John 4:9-10
Freshmen at BJU (www.bju.edu)
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