[B-Greek] 1 John3:1 - 'called' by whom?

Greg Stovell stovell at viconet.net
Wed Apr 23 16:35:01 EDT 2003


On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 04:07 PM, Jonathan Robie wrote:

> This sounds like you would rule out the possibility that this might be 
> a taunt, e.g. that Jews would frown on those who feel they can call 
> God Abba, and say to them, "who do you think you are, children of 
> God", eventually resulting in "children of God" as an ironic nickname 
> for Christians?

I think this depends on your dating of 1st John, as well as the 
recipient community. It seems to me that 1 John is written to a divided 
Christian community dating post Gospel writings (circa 100AD).  In this 
case, the taunt or attack could very well be from one of the branches 
to the other (see 2:19)... and the author's writing could serve as an 
assurance of their adoption.

On the other hand, it makes sense that KALEISQAI can be (loosely) 
translated as "being known as". This would certainly be consistent with 
the call as God's children in salvation history.  The fact that we bear 
the label does not exclude the possibility of others speaking of us as 
'children of God" - whether it is an address or an attack...

.... hmm.. there may be a message brewing somewhere in there.

-Greg



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