John 20:31 was Re: [B-Greek] Phil 2:11
waldo slusher
waldoslusher at yahoo.com
Wed Oct 15 16:55:02 EDT 2003
Iver...
> It may be worth mentioning that the emphasis in
> constructions as this always falls on the
> predicate,
> and I think we must go with "Jesus is THE
> MESSIAH."
> I wouldn't agree with this statement. Who has
> proposed it and what are the
> justifications for it?
I proposed it.
The subject of this construct has already been
identified and specified in the context (vs 30).
Repeating IHSOUS adds no additional information or
emphasis. But IHSOUS is carried forward from the
previous mention for the purpose of GIVING ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION ABOUT HIM. And that is exactly what a
PREDICATE NOMINATIVE'S function is. Now, I must admit
that I am not a fan of fronting or word order
emphasis, so my comments naturally reflect that
prejudice. I would contend that information that adds
nothing to the statement can only be viewed with some
emphasis, since its only purpose could be to provide
ADDITIONAL information that the context does NOT call
for. So, I would say that I am arguing for emphasis,
but not based on word order, but word selection. In
every instance, I give appositions the most emphasis,
and in every instance, I give predicate nominatives
(with an equative verb) much emphasis. Hence, Jesus
(the subject) is (equative verb, same as = ) the
Messiah (pred. nom), the Son of God (apposition, which
would be given more emphasis than Messiah, and more
yet of Jesus). Again, word order has little impact on
my thinking; I am far more concerned with word
selection than its position. And so, John comes full
circle from his opening words in 1:1, and indeed,
Jesus is the Son of God (not to mention the Messiah
also).
=====
Waldo Slusher
Calgary, AB
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list