[B-Greek] 1 John 3:9

Lincoln Mullen lmullen at bju.edu
Wed Oct 27 00:49:10 EDT 2004


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From: Alexander Loney [mailto:alexander.loney at duke.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 12:27 AM
To: 'Lincoln Mullen'
Subject: RE: [B-Greek] 1 John 3:9



The imperfective aspect of hAMARTANEIN, both in this verse and in the
preceding context, is, I think, ill treated by translations such as
"continues to sin" or "keeps on sinning." This is analogous to the fallacy
that a simple present imperative commands that the person do the action
continually and the aorist that he do it just once (the place to go for this
is D.A. Carsons's Exegtical Fallacies, based on Stagg's 1972 article "The
abused Aorist".). Contrast this 1 John 3:9 with 1 John 2:1, where you do
have an Aorist, MH hMARATHTE. The whole verse goes:

 

TEKNIA MOU, TAUTA GRAFW hUMIN hINA MH Hamarthte. KAI EAN TIS hAMARTHi,
PARAKLHTON ECOMEN PROS TON PATERA IHSOUN CRISTON DIKAION.

 

Here, when we take in the context above where he just stated that all in
fact do sin, it seems that he is not writing to them so that they not sin at
all, rather, so that they refrain from some specific sins on account of the
knowledge they now have from his letter. John writes with the Aorist here
because he is concerned finite sins which, if committed, can be forgiven
through the paraklete Jesus. 

 

However, I do not think that 3:9 can be considered to express habitual
refrainment from sin because of the aspect of hAMARTANEIN. Fanning has a
good discussion on this problem in pp. 212–217 of his book on verbal aspect.
He suggests, convincing I think, that 3:9 is more of gnomic, or generic,
statement, as is made clear by the PAS. I think that while a habitual
meaning for 3:9 is possible, it is not marked in anyway to make it obvious
to the reader. There is a contrast in verses 7 and 8 between the good
actions of the righteous person and the licentiousness of someone “from the
devil.” This contrast is a rebuke of Gnostics and a warning to Christians.
So what follows in verse 9 is that Christians must refrain from sin,
specific, absolute sins (though what those are is not spoken of here). 

 

This all, however, hinges in what exactly the meaning of DUNATAI is here.
That I too am unsure of. Apologies to the Seth the orginal poster who was
curious about that. It most literally means “has the power to,” from
DUNAMIS, “power.”

 

 

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------

Alexander Loney

Duke University

Classical Studies

 

now the ears of my ears are awake and 

now the eyes of my eyes are opened

                                          - e e cummings

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lincoln Mullen
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:03 PM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: RE: [B-Greek] 1 John 3:9

 

OU DUNATAI hAMARTANEIN cannot mean "is able to not sin" with the OU

modifying hAMARTANEIN, because OU is not used with infinitives. The negative

particle for infinitives (indeed, for all moods other than the indicative)

is MH.

 

I think that the present tense infinitive is significant. My understanding

of John is that he is writing, "He is not able to be [continually] sinning."

I would interpret it to mean that a Christian is not engaged in a lifestyle

of habitual sin, not that he never sins.

 

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

Lincoln Mullen

Student, Bob Jones Univ. (SC)

Groton, Massachusetts

lmullen at bju.edu

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org

[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Harold R. Holmyard

III

Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:25 PM

To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org

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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