[B-Greek] GENNAW

william zeitler william at faithfulbible.com
Fri May 27 15:31:00 EDT 2005


> Perhaps I'm reacting to
> the number of times people have used the argument you're using in order
> to support the injecting of their own definition of a word into the
> text.

Yes, I entirely sympathize and wholeheartedly agree. Jesus did not use words 
out of thin air. But XARIS is another example -- Paul took a rather ordinary 
word and invested it with additional specifically NT meaning. 

Which is why we have specifically NT lexicons like BDAG.

> I think it's interesting to this discussion that a word I nearly
> suggested for GENNAW in John 3:3 was one that I had to coin for the use.
> I nearly suggested, 'reprocreated'...   

I like it!!!

best wishes,

william zeitler


On Friday 27 May 2005 12:11 pm, Mike Sangrey wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-05-27 at 10:46 -0700, william zeitler wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > At the same time Jesus was wont to use words in ways that are unique to
> > Him. (ZWH comes to mind). Heck, Nicodemus is getting confused in this
> > very pasage because Jesus is using GENNAW in a sense unique to Him.
>
> Yes and no.  He did not use words in ways that are perfectly unique to
> Him.  If I said, "He fredded that one," no one would know what I'm
> saying.  But I'm probably being pedantic here.  Perhaps I'm reacting to
> the number of times people have used the argument you're using in order
> to support the injecting of their own definition of a word into the
> text.  I try to be very cautious to not allow myself to do that.
> There's a subtle tension between using a word in a new and unique way
> and still being able to communicate the intended meaning without a lot
> of work redefining the word.
>
> I think it's interesting to this discussion that a word I nearly
> suggested for GENNAW in John 3:3 was one that I had to coin for the use.
> I nearly suggested, 'reprocreated'.   That way I could easily capture
> the possible intended ambiguity in the phrase by saying 'reprocreated
> from above' and still allow the flow of thought to enable Nicodemus'
> misunderstanding.



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