[B-Greek] I John 3:18 and ALLA as "as well as"

Eric Weiss papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 20 09:02:54 EST 2005


BDAG translates I John 3:18 as follows (under AGAPAW 3):

TEKNIA, MH AGAPWMEN LOGWi MHDE THi GLWSSHi 
ALLA EN ERGW KAI ALHTEIAi.

"let us show our love with deeds AS WELL AS w. word or 
tongue." (my caps)

In my Precise Parallel New Testament, only the Amplified Bible 
with its addition of "merely" similarly renders it, i.e.: "Little 
children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in 
deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity)." All other 
translations are like the NRSV, i.e.: "Little children, let us love, 
not in word or speech, BUT in truth and action." In other words, 
the ALLA is contrastive, not "as well as."

I don't see this meaning of "as well as" in the examples in BDAG 
under ALLA (unless I'm overlooking it).

If BDAG is correct in its translation of ALLA in I John 3:18, what is 
the rule for so doing - or is it just Danker's contextual interpretation 
of the verse?



Eric S. Weiss


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