[B-Greek] 1 John 3:9

Dony K. Donev dony at cupandcross.com
Wed Oct 27 00:06:20 EDT 2004


A similar discussion on 1 John 3:9 was held in 1999.
Here is the link and of course the postings that followed it.

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/1999-October/007996.html

It may be interesting to revisit it.

Dony K. Donev

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard at ont.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1 John 3:9


Dear Ben,

>On Tue 26 Oct 2004 (16:45:54), sethvm at hotmail.com wrote:
>>  Now, in regards to the clause about "cannot sin," within its context,
>>  does the greek seem to clarify whether this is a statement on absolute
>>  incapability (i.e.: the human has no way of commiting a sin once born
>>  of God), on impermissiveness and zero tolerance, or on something else?
>  > So essentially, what does "cannot sin" mean?
>
>  There has long been a debate about this. Jerome in the Vulgate renders
the
>  phrase OU DUNATAI hAMARTANEIN "non potest
>peccare", whereas commentators would
>  rather he had put "potest non peccare": "Has the ability not to sin"
rather
>  than "cannot sin".

HH: "Has the ability not to sin" would be mighty
poor translation, it seems to me. The OU is in
the wrong place; it would need to be before
hAMARTANEIN. I think John is speaking about
hAMARTANEIN as a lifestyle. The whole context
suggests this. The NIV translation brings this
out in previous verses:

1John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on
sinning. No one who continues to sin has either
seen him or known him.

HH: And look at the contrast of lifestyles in verses 7 and 8:

1John 3:7 ¶ Dear children, do not let anyone lead
you astray. He who does what is right is
righteous, just as he is righteous.
1John 3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the
devil, because the devil has been sinning from
the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the devil's work.

HH: There is a contrast between a saved and an
unsaved person. The phrase in verse 9 is
continuing that discussion of a righteous
lifestyle versus a sinful lifestyle:

1John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue
to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he
cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of
God.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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