[B-Greek] John 16:8

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Feb 12 08:40:55 EST 2005


At 6:04 AM -0500 2/12/05, George F Somsel wrote:
>On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:23:48 +0100 "Beata Urbanek" <baurbanek at op.pl>
>writes:
>> Dear B-Greekers,
>>
>> I'm currently working on the topic of KRISIS and the role of
>> Paraclet in it. I'm not sure what the meaning of the verb ELEGCW in
>> John 16:8 is: is it quite neutral: "expose" or is it stronger and
>> means "to convince" or even - as TDNT suggests - "to show someone
>> his sin and to summon him to repentance", "set right".
>> Maybe it'd be going into theology, but according to the meaning of
>> this verb: is the work of Paraclet external or internal (concerning
>> the world)?
>>
>> Beata Urbanek
>> Poland
>___________________
>
>TEXT
>
>8.   KAI ELQWN EKEINOS ELEGCEI TON KOSMON PERI hAMARTIAS KAI PERI
>DIKAIOSUNHS KAI PERI KRISEW:
>9.   PERI hAMARTIAS MEN, . . .
>10. PERI DIKAIOSUNHS DE, . . .
>11. PERI DE KRISEWS . . .
>
>I think it is necessary to read the entire section in order to come to a
>proper judgment.  If it were to be internal (to the church ?), then it
>would not have stated that it was TON KOSMON.  Neither would it have had
>a hOTI clause as is found in v. 9 hOTI OU PISTEUOUSIN EIS EME. "Set
>right" doesn't seem to catch the understanding that I seem to detect
>here.  It may or may not "set right" the situation, but it certainly is
>"to bring to light, expose."  The function seems to be to stand and say
>"Choose today whom you will serve."

I have looked at Andrew Birch's response to the question as well as
George's very fine response. Although I have no reason to think there's any
historical linkage between Socrates and the Johannine usage, I think an
understanding of the verb ELEGCW might be enhanced by awareness of the
Socratic educational "elenchus" as a probing critique of a person's deepest
assumptions, testing to ascertain which, if any, are valid, and
demonstrating the fact that a person is not what he claims to be.
-- 

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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