John 1

Glendon M. Gross gross at xinetd.com
Tue Aug 27 22:56:26 EDT 2002


I am not aware if this explanation is the officially "correct" one,
so I defer to more experienced scholars on the list.  But you will notice
that in verse 14, we have the words

KAI hO LOGOS SARX EGENETO...   ["and the word became flesh".]

This statement of John's is quite radical in view of the context
of the previous verses, which seem to pattern themselves after Genesis.
I am speculating here, but it seems to me that if AUTOU were translated
"IT" in the previous verses, then this would cause the statements
in verse 14 to appear even more out of context than they already do.
How can the word become flesh?  This is certainly a stretch for the human
mind.
In context it would appear from the verses 14 and following that John
is talking about a person, since he then begins to say that (he or it)
ESKANOSEN en h'AMIN.  [tabernacled, or "tented" among us.]  While
the word may have been from the beginning as an "IT", how could it
have "tabernacled among us" ?  My suspicion is that this problem with
the context may have influenced the translators to translate v. 3
"Everything through Him came into being..." instead of "Everything through
it came into being."  Again, I defer to more experienced scholars on this
list to refute or affirm this explanation, which is that the context of
verse 14 requires the translation of AUTOU to mean "HIM."

Regards,

Glendon M. Gross
amateur Greek student

-----Original Message-----
From: osbo at hn.ozemail.com.au [mailto:osbo at hn.ozemail.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 7:45 PM
To: Biblical Greek
Subject: [b-greek] John 1


In John 1:3 the word 'him' was translated 'it' until the Rheims Bible of
the late 1500's. When we go to verse 5 the same word is translated 'it' and
in verse 4, 10,11 and 12 the same word is translated as 'him'. To me it is
obvious that the subject is light, especially in verse 10. Should the word
be translated 'him' or 'it' as it is done elsewhere such as Matt.13:19;
Mark 4:19,20; and more particularly Luke 11:28.

Why have translators given the word a personalised meaning in John 1 than
what it appears to demand. Is their any difference between the use of logos
in these other places than in John that would demand the different handling
of 'it' - 'him'.

Lew Osborne
osbo at hn.ozemail.com.au



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