[B-Greek] sons of God - teknia, huios
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Apr 29 13:22:34 EDT 2003
<snip>
> I am including four such passages, with some commentary
> underneath each one
> John 1:12 1Jo 3:1
> 1Jo 3:2 Phillipians 2:14-15
> ============================
>
> John 1:12
> But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
> sons of God,
> even to them that believe on his name:
>
> 1Jo 3:1
> Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
> that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
> knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
> 1Jo 3:2 -
> Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
> what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
> shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
>
> Phillipians 2:
> 14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
> 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
> without rebuke,
> in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
> shine as lights in the world;
>
> My question is two-fold
>
> 1) Do you have any theories as to why the Scripture has teknia in
> these verses,
> as distinct from huios (granted, such theories or conjectures
> are always a little iffy).
First I would observe that TEKNIA is the plural of TEKNION. It is only used
by John and never in the literal sense. It has a connotation of endearment:
my dear "children". The four passages you list use TEKNA.
TEKNA appears to used in a context where the focus is on the relationship
between the parents and the children and that focus is often connected with
(mutual) love and being part of one family.
hUIOI is used more in contexts where the focus is on likeness between father
and son. A son is to follow in his father's footstep and be like him in
character and behaviour. I am excluding the very literal sense of being
simply a son as opposed to a daughter.
With this background, I see John 1:12 as saying that those who believe,
become included in the family and therefore share in the mutual love within
the family. The verses in 1 John are similar with a strong focus on love.
In Phil 2:14-15 it is hard for me to see why TEKNA is used rather than
hUIOI, and it may be one of those cases where there is no difference in
meaning intended. On the other hand, it could be that Paul wanted to
emphasize the love of God for his children. TEKNA is often used with a word
for "beloved", and even without it "teknon" has a connotation of my *dear*
"child". It is only Jesus that is referred to as the beloved hUIOS, and it
seems to me that even in those contexts the primary focus is on Jesus as
being like God in character and behaviour.
>
> 2) Do you want to venture your views as to the translation as
> "sons of God" in
> these four verses ? Or the alternative "children of God"
> that is often used today.
The better translation in modern English would be "children of God" for
TEKNA QEOU. Why KJV used "sons of God" I don't know. Maybe the language was
quite different at that time?
Iver Larsen
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