[B-Greek] John 1 Questions

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Thu Aug 4 17:33:31 EDT 2005


On Aug 4, 2005, at 3:47 PM, malcolm robertson wrote:

> Dear Dony,
>
> I think it is quite odd that a relative pronoun would be used to  
> start a sentence (a clause - yes) in Greek.  If someone has  
> concrete examples please post them.

1 John 1:1 hO\ HN AP' ARCHS,hO AKHKOAMEN, hO hEWRAKAMEN TOIS  
OFQALMOIS hHMWN, hO EQEASAMEQA KAI hAI CEIRES hHMWN EYHLAFHSAN PERI  
TOU LOGOU THS ZWHS ...

Looks like a deliberate strategy in 1 John 1:1, which I think has a  
fair claim to being authentically Johannine. I'm not going looking  
for others, but I think that the relative clause out front followed  
by a clause with a demonstrative referent of the relative pronoun is  
not at all uncommon in Greek. There are lots of such constructions in  
Mt beginning with hOSTIS ...


> Doctrinal considerations aside, this example at Jn 1:3 should be  
> capable of elucidation at the grammar level.   Normally a relative  
> pronoun has an antecedent and to which it agrees in gender and  
> number.  It's own case is determined by it's usage in it's own  
> clause.   As far as punctuation goes at Jn 1:3, I would have to  
> disagree with both Metzger et al and Westcott and Hort.  The OUDE  
> hEN hO GEGONEN is all inclusive and not solely limited to EN AUWi  
> ZWH HN.
>
> Remember that the early Uncial manuscripts had a continuous capital  
> script text (no spaces or punctuation) so the punctuations we see  
> in printed editions of the Greek New Testament are reflective of  
> decisions not displayed in the hand written NT text itself.
>
> I think the English Standard Version has correctly understood and  
> translated this verse by placing the period after hO GEGONEN.

I'm not really arguing the matter one way or the other; granted that  
hO GEGONEN EN AUTWi ZWH HN is difficult, but on the other hand, hO  
GEGONEN seems troublesome as a redundancy and a stylistic anticlimax.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




More information about the B-Greek mailing list