[B-Greek] TAUTA and hINA in Jn 15:17
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri May 23 07:55:06 EDT 2003
At 7:05 AM -0400 5/23/03, Rbsads at aol.com wrote:
>Jn 15:17 TAUTA ENTELLOMAI hUMIN, hINA AGAPATE ALLNLOUS
>
>The translations differ whether TAUTA refers to plural commands and hINA
>introduces a purpose clause or whether TAUTA refers to the single command
>that is
>introduced by hINA.
>
>In the NRSV, TAUTA refers to plural commands, which I suppose are understood
>to be the verses 13-16. The hINA clause introduces the reason for the
>preceding commands. These verses however do not seem to me to be commands.
>
>In the NIV, TAUTA is rendered as a singular and refers to the hINA clause as
>its referent.
>
>Prompted by the earlier discussion of Bullinger, I made reference to his
>chapter in Figures on heterosis of number, plural for singular, and found
>this:
>
>"This is so put when great excellence or magnitude is denoted. Our attention
>is thus called to the importance of thethng or matter concerning which the
>statement is made."
>
>This I am taking as an explanation of how the referent of TAUTA could be the
>singular hINA clause.
>
>Wallace explains in his grammar that hINA can be used as a direct object
>clause, rather that purpose, expecially after verbs of command, etc. In
>fact,
>John seems to follow this quite frequently thoughout the preceding passage.
>
>Please offer any comments on how this verse might be best understood.
NET has what I would deem an unquestionably correct version:
"This *44 I command you-to love one another."
The note #44 does indicate that the Greek has "these" rather than "this."
My comments are simply: (1) For what it's worth, I really think that the
differences in the English versions has to do with a (IMHO) misguided
notion that "literal" translation should convey English equivalents of each
item in the original; the differences may also involve a notion that hINA +
subjunctive clauses should normally or invariably be carried over into
English as purpose clauses. (2) TAUTA is commonly used in ancient Greek to
highlight something that is about to be said, as "What follows is my
command to you: ..." This is a matter of different usage in Greek and
English: Greek very commonly uses the neuter plural "these" here where
English regularly uses the singular "this"; Moreover I think it's just
plain silly to suppose that the TAUTA refers to the whole of verses 13-16.
(3) Wallace is absolutely right about the hINA clause; I think that Koine
Greek is taught commonly in such a way as to give the impression that hINA
+ subjunctive clauses are primarily purpose clauses; while that may have
been the case in earlier Greek, the fact is that in Hellenistic Greek hINA
+ subjunctive is well-launched on its way to becoming the Modern Greek
infinitive: it MAY indicate purpose, but it is as likely to indicate result
or to be, as here, a noun clause: "THIS is my command, THAT you love each
other."
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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