[B-Greek] GENNAW
william zeitler
william at faithfulbible.com
Fri May 27 17:27:09 EDT 2005
>The context of John 3 suggests that the
> sense is indeed being born rather than being conceived,
And your reasoning is....?
So far the only textual reason proposed for 'born' over 'conceived' is from
Nicodemus' reply in v. 4. But considering that Nicodemus was misunderstanding
Jesus' statement, and continues to not understand Jesus as the passage
unfolds, I question whether this is decisive for understanding what Jesus had
in mind!
I'm not interested in how to translate it, but whether there are grounds from
the Greek and/or context for determining this. It's looking like "negatory"!
best wishes,
william zeitler
On Friday 27 May 2005 12:05 pm, Iver Larsen wrote:
> > John 3:3 EAN MH TIS GENNHQH ANWQEN, OU DUNATAI IDEIN THN
> > BASILEIAN TOU QEOU.
> >
> > My question is about GENNHQH (GENNAW). The meaning seems rather
> > straightforward. E.g. BDAG: 1) to become parent of, 2) give
> > birth, 3) cause
> > (something) to happen, bring forth, produce. Generally translated
> > along the
> > lines of 'to beget' when referring to the male activity in the
> > reproductive
> > process, and 'to give birth' when referring to the female.
> >
> > So why is John 3:3ff invariably translated along the lines of
> > 'unless a man be
> > BORN again/from above...'
> >
> > Why not 'unless a man be BEGOTTEN again/from above...'?
>
> Because that would be a too restrictive analysis of GENNAW.
>
> In the passive, the word can refer either to a child being conceived as in
> Matt 1:20, or to a child being born as in Matt 2:1. Jesus was born in
> Bethlehem, but not conceived there. The context of John 3 suggests that the
> sense is indeed being born rather than being conceived, however, the two
> are closely connected in the wider sense of "being produced" or "come to
> life".
>
> Iver Larsen
-------------------------------------------------------
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list