[B-Greek] PAS and PAN in John

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sun Mar 23 06:44:44 EST 2003


Dear b-greekers

I need a bit of help with John's use of the neuter PAN as compared with the
masculine PAS.

What I am looking at in particular are the following passages in 1 John:

1Jn 3:9 PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU QEOU hAMARTIAN OU POIEI
1Jn 5:4 PAN TO GEGENNHMENON EK YOU QEOU NIKAi TON KOSMON
1Jn 5:18 PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU QEOU OUC hAMARTANEI

The first and third are clearly parallel and the masculine refers to any
*person* who is born of God.
The problem is the middle one. Does it still refer to a person or people?
And if so, why the neuter?
Or does it refer to an abstract concept: Whatever "thing" is born of God,
i.e. has its origin from God, that "thing" has power to overcome what
originates from the world?
1 JN 5:4b continues KAI hAUTH ESTIN hH NIKH hH NIKHSASA TON KOSMON, hH
PISTIS hHMWN.
So, whatever it is that overcomes the world, is related to "our faith".

PAS before an arthrous masculine, nominative participle is quite common,
both in John and 1 John. I counted 11 cases in John (plus one accusative -
PANTA TA ERCOMENA) and also 11 in 1 John. The interesting thing is that
there is also the one neuter example in 1 John 5:4 which sticks out like a
sore thumb.

I could find no instances of the neuter PAN referring to a person in other
NT texts except a few interesting ones in John's gospel where PAN is
followed by a relative clause rather than an arthrous participle:

John 6:37 PAN hO\ DIDWSIN MOI hO PATHR, PROS EME hEXEI
John 6:39 PAN hO\ DEDWKEN MOI, MH APOLESW EX AUTOU, ALLA ANASTHSW AUTO EN
THi ESCATWi hHMERAi
John 17:2 PAN hO\ DEDWKAS AUTWi, DWSEI AUTOIS ZWHN AIWNION

In spite of the neuter form, it appears that the reference is to a person or
to people. In 6:39 even the neuter AUTO is used. The plural AUTOIS in 17:2
seems to suggest that the reference is to a plural notion. So, it appears
that the neuter PAN can refer to a group seen as a totality. The NET note
calls it "neuter collective singular". Is this general in Greek or peculiar
to John? It is probably better to translate with "all" and plural forms in
English.

The PAN plus relative is only found in John and PAS plus relative is only
found outside of John. Any explanation?

I am aware of the NET note on 1 Jn 5:4:
"The masculine might have been expected here rather than the neuter ... to
refer to the person who is fathered by God. However, BDF §138.1 explains
that “the neuter is sometimes used with respect to persons if it is not the
individuals but a generic quality that is to be emphasized”; this seems to
be the case here, where a collective aspect is in view: as a group, all
those who have been begotten by God, that is, all true believers, overcome
the world."

The problem with BDF 138.1 is that they give only two examples: John 3:6 and
1 John 5:4. It seems to me that both could also be interpreted in a more
abstract sense:
John 3:6 Whatever is born of flesh is flesh, whatever is born of spirit is
spirit
1 Jn 5:4 Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
(NET - along with many other versions - is inconsistent between Jn 3:6 and 1
Jn 5:4).

Or is John simply trying to express the difference that we might indicate
with "anyone" versus "all"?
In that case 1 Jn 3:9 and 5:18 become "Anyone who is born of God, does not
live in sin" and 5:4 then becomes "All who are born of God, overcome the
world"

I'll be happy for comments,
Iver Larsen



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