[B-Greek] John 1:47 ALHQWS

Iver Larsen iver at larsen.dk
Wed Jun 15 08:59:46 EDT 2005


>
> On Jun 14, 2005, at 4:47 AM, D Jongkind wrote:
>
> > John 1:47
> > IDE ALHQWS ISRAHLITHS EN W DOLOS OUK ESTIN
> >
> > To what extent can adverbs as ALHQWS take on adjectival qualities?
> > Some translations render this as 'a true Israelite' but it seems to
> > me rather uncommon to take an adverb in the sense of an adjective.
> > I checked BDF343 but I see some difference with the case in hand:
> > here the adverb is derived from an adjective.
> > Could somebody shed some light?.
>
> An interesting question, Dirk. After a bit of reflection, I rather
> think ALHQWS is adverbial and construes with an implicit verb: ESTIN
> would be a pretty good candidate, I think, especially since we have
> the rare active imperative IDE instead of IDOU, which is more common:
> "Take note! Here's an israelite in the authentic sense (rightly so-
> called) ..." I do think that a verb must be implicit here and
> something like a hOUTOS also. On the other hand, I suppose it could
> be argued that ISRAHLITHS is generic and functioning more like a
> predicate adjective: "Here's an Israelite, one rightly so-called."
>
> That, as I say, is after a bit of reflection; I'd like to hear other
> views on this question.
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad

BDAG says: "in attributive relation w. substantives ... IDE A. ISRAHLITHS
... here is a real Israelite (lit. ‘really an Is.’) J 1:47; A. MAQHTAI MOU
ESTE you are real disciples of mine 8:31."

Don Carson comments: "'Truly, an Israelite in whom there is no guile!'—not,
as in NIV, 'Here is a true Israelite ...'. The adjective 'true' (ALHQINOS)
is an important word for John, but he does not use it here (cf. notes on
1:9). Instead, he uses the word 'truly' (ALHQWS), consistently deployed in
the Fourth Gospel as an adverb (4:42; 6:14, 55 [ v.l .]; 7:26, 40; 8:31;
17:8). Jesus is not saying that Nathanael is a 'true Israelite', in terms
reminiscent of Paul's discussion of the new Israel (Rom. 2:28–29; 9:6). ...
That Jesus refers to him as an 'Israelite' is not surprising; Palestinian
Jews commonly referred to one another that way (K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 3. 359ff.).
Jesus' point is not that Nathanael is an Israelite, 'true' or otherwise, but
that Nathanael is a certain kind of Israelite, an Israelite in whom there is
no guile, no deceit (dolos; cf. J. Painter, in BETL, pp. 359–362). Nathanael
may have been blunt in his criticism of Nazareth, but he was an Israelite
without duplicitous motives who was willing to examine for himself the
claims being made about Jesus."

Personally, I see no reason to treat ALHQWS as anything but an adverb that
modifies the implied ESTIN. One might translate: "Here is really an
Israelite who is completely honest". Even in John 8:31, one could translate:
"Then you will really be my disciples."

Iver Larsen





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