[B-Greek] 1John 3:19-20
David Rollins
david87350 at earthlink.net
Tue Oct 14 14:58:41 EDT 2003
From: "Mike Marchywka" <marchywka at hotmail.com>
Date: Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:00:20 AM US/Pacific
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] 1John 3:19-20
Hi,
I am fairly new to the Bible and very new to Greek. Prior to reading
the Bible
I had almost no interest in literature or language- please allow me one
or
two newbie questions.
I see that no one has tackled this question - so I will give my 2
cents. The most important issue in reading any text is the context.
What is the overall progression of thought for the writer?
Verse 16 - the love of God is understood most clearly by the example of
Jesus laying down His life for us - and so we must lay down our lives
for the brethren - how is that done ?
Verse 17 - by sharing with our brother we show the love of God dwells
also in us.
Verse 18 - my brothers - don't do this in just words - but truly serve
Verse 19 - We shall know by this ( serving our brother unreservedly)
that we are of the truth. Some may try to wax philosophical on this
point and there may be some room for that - but our assurance of being
"of the truth" ( which I take to be assurance that we are true
disciples - something John is talking about throughout this epistle) is
rather simple and pragmatic.
Verse 20 - now if our heart does blame us ? God is greater than our
heart and knows all things . I take this to mean that our serving our
brother is foremost and our own heart can be deceived.
My apologies to the list here - I have made a number of comments here
w/o dealing with the Greek text - but for this question to be answered
fully would take quite a long dissertation. I think Mike just wants
some direction.
My question is basically about all the words that appear in 1John
3:19,20.
In general, can the word translated as "heart" be taken to mean
"emotions"?
And, can the original for "condemn" be taken to mean any negative
emotion
that prevents us from growing or coming towards God(fear,guilt, low
self-worth) ?
I'd like to twist/force the text to read something like " the logos
aspect of God
is greater than our emotions" but I have no idea how far off this could
be
based on the original words and context.
How is "heart" different from the love aspect of God?
Once you become more knowledgeable in the GNT you will be able to use
Lexicons and dictionaries. But at your stage it is absolutely
essential that you look up as many places where a term is used BEFORE
you make any assumption as to its use or meaning. Because you may not
have access at this time to any resources here is a good synopsis of
the meaning of KARDIA ( heart) in the NT which comes from the
Theological Dictionary of the NT:
a. in the heart dwell feelings and emotions, desires and passions
b. the heart is the seat of understanding, the source of thought and
reflection
c. the heart is the seat of the will, the sources of resolves.
d. thus the heart is the one centre in man to which God turns, in
which the religious life is rooted, which determines moral conduct
The question as to the meaning of condemn (KATAGINWSKW) :
the term is used in this passage and in Gal. 2:11 and Romans 14:23. I
would conclude that the term is used to meaning a fault detected and
then condemned. The root word here is "to know" and is intensified by
the addition of KATA. So, I would say that your take on the word is
not possible.
Does the word for "truth" have any particular relatioship to any words
used to
describe God- logos, love, spirit - besides the direct statement made
in John 14:6
( or is this even the same word that is translated as "truth"?).
John in his gospel and in his epistles can be quite philosophical - but
not in this passage in my view. The meaning is simple and
straight-forward.
( I'm still looking through on-line Greek reference suggestions I've
seen posted
to this list but it will take quite a while for me to be able to even
pretend
to read Greek...
Yes, I have searched the archive somewhat- I found "chicken liver" is a
bad
translation of logos and I decided not to even try the other terms
until I got
some basic guidance...)
Thanks.
( NOTE: NEW ADDRESS WILL BE mikemarchywka at netscape.net - I need more
storage or some kind of mail that allows message download for
archiving. Any recipient of my mail who has ideas is welcome to suggest
them . Thanks. )
Mike Marchywka
1899 Balmoral Rd
Smyrna GA 30080
770-434-7510 (H)<- rarely answer
770-261-5084 (W)<- leave message
989-348-4796 (P)<- emergency only
> From: "Doug Hoxworth" <dhoxworth at charter.net>
> To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: [B-Greek] Greek 'n' Stuff
> Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 00:50:42 -0400
>
> http://www.greeknstuff.com/
>
> has anyone seen this "Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!" curriculum
> for teaching children greek? is it good? could someone who has heard
> of it fill me in on it? i'm thinking about using it for my kids in
> homeschooling. thanks!
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
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