[B-Greek] John 3:36

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Sep 22 08:39:21 EDT 2003


I think that this thread has, in the most recent contributions, entered
into broader area of doctrinal stances toward meanings of PISTIS/PISTEUW
and early church history, and therefore beyond the proper parameters of
b-greek.  Within the proper realm of B-Greek is the question, essentially,
whether APEIQEW in John 3:36 should be deemed an antonym of PISTEUW or
instead rather as a verb more narrowly indicating a behavioral aspect of
"believing, trusting, being faithful." I am going to make a comment of my
own and then urge that those who wish to continue to pursue the matters
that are beyond the scope of B-Greek dialogue with each other OFF-LIST on
the question.

The text: John 3:36 hO PISTEUWN EIS TON hUION ECEI ZWHN AIWNION; hO DE
APEIQWN TWi hUIWi OUK OYETAI ZWHN, ALL' hH ORGH TOU QEOU MENEI EP' AUTON.

Iver Larsen has argued that APEIQEW in this instance should NOT be deemed
an antonym of PISTEUWN but that it designates negation of a narrower notion
of what PISTEUWN includes; he has noted that APEIQEW in fact does not
appear elsewhere in John's gospel while on the other hand, John frequently
enough uses PISTEUW with a negating particle. Those facts are not in
dispute. On the other hand, Carlton Winbery has argued that hO DE APEIQWN
is indeed antonymous to hO PISTEUWN and that this is a matter of rhetorical
variation between alternative verbs expressing essentially identical
notions; he has pointed to John's use of alternatives AGAPAW and FILEW (in
Jn 21) and of OIDA and GINWSKW.

It is true that APEIQEW is rare in John, so much so that our text is the
only instance of its use. PISTEUW on the other hand, is to be found passim
in this gospel, and 19 times in the present participle, 2x in the aorist
participle, 1x in the perfect participle. It seems to me that we would do
well to consider AKOUW as synonymous, to some extent, with PISTEUW, in the
sense thus suggested by L&N:

31.56 AKOUWd; AKOHe, HS f.:to believe something and to respond to it on the
basis of having heard - 'to accept, to listen to, to listen and respond, to
pay attention and respond, to heed.'
AKOUWd: EAN SOU AKOUSHi, EKERDHSAS TON ADELFON SOU 'if he listens to you,
you have won your brother back' Mt 18:15;7 GNWSTON OUN ESTW hUMIN hOTI TOIS
EQNESIN APESTALH TOUTO TO SWTHRION TOU QEOU; AUTOI KAI AKOUSONTAI 'you are
to know for sure, then, that God's message of salvation has been sent to
the Gentiles; they will accept it' Ac 28:28.
AKOHe: KAI APO MEN THS ALHQEIAS THN AKOHN APOSTREYOUSIN 'and they will turn
away from heeding the truth' 2Tm 4:4.

Furthermore, L&N notes usage of APEIQEW and APEIQEIA in the sense of
rejection of the Christian message:

31.107 APEIQEWb; APEIQEIAb, aß f: to refuse to believe the Christian
message - 'to refuse to be a believer, to reject the Christian message, to
refuse to believe.'
APEIQEWb; hOI DE APEIQHSANTES IOUDAIOI EPHGEIRAN 'but the Jews who would
not believe stirred up (the Gentiles)' Ac 14:2.
APEIQEIAb, AS: TOU PNEUMATOS TOU NUN ANERGOUNTOS EN TOIS hUIOIS THS
APEIQEIAS 'the spirit that works in those who refuse to believe' Eph 2:2.
It is also possible to interpret APEIQEIA in Eph 2:2 as overt disobedience
to God (see 36.23).

While I doubt that these considerations will dissuade those who are
convinced that APEIQEW in John 3:36 must mean more than "reject Jesus," for
my part I am pretty well satisfied that the evangelist intended to use the
word in the sense of "reject Jesus" in this passage (Jn 3:1-21) which
focuses so intensely on the antithetical implications of acceptance and
rejection of Jesus as revealer.

Now, may I suggest, please, that those who wish to continue this discussion
beyond the matter of the Greek text into doctrinal ramifications or broader
dimensions of Johannine and early church assumptions about "belief,"
"trusting," "faithfulness," etc., dialogue with each other to their hearts'
content OFF-LIST? Thanks.
-- 

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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