[B-Greek] John 18:37 EK THS ALHQEIAS

virgil newkirk virgilsalvage1 at msn.com
Sat Nov 12 21:16:22 EST 2005


(Please excuse the double-post....I inadvertently left the subject line blank)




Stephen,

You asked:


Ladies and Gentlemen:
Could anyone shed some light on the phrase
EK THS ALHQEIAS
When Jesus is speaking with Pilate, he says
PAS hO WV e.t.a  AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS

Is he talking of those already "of the truth" i.e. born again of the Spirit 
of Truth who will by definition recognise the voice of the one who is Truth, 
or is he speaking of those still searching and is saying something like "if 
you are wanting the truth, you will listen to me" or something else?

Thanks

Stephen Baldwin
stbaldwi at hotmail.com<http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek<http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek>>


__________________

JN 18:37 EIPEN OUN AUTWi hO PILATOS: OUKOUN BASILEUS EI SU; APEKRIQH  
hO IHSOUS: SU LEGEIS hOTI BASILEUS EIMI. EGW EIS TOUTO GEGENNHMAI KAI  
EIS TOUTO ELHLUQA EIS TON KOSMON, hINA MARTURHSW THi ALHQEIAi: PAS hO  
WN EK THS ALHQEIAS AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS.


VN:


Stephen,

Recently when Carl closed a thread he included the following statement:

"My judgment is that  
doctrinal concerns may have weighed more heavily from the outset than  
a concern to discern precisely what the text AS A GREEK TEXT may or  
may not mean, but arguments are now being adduced from beyond the  
immediate context, in some instances without any concern for citation  
of a relevant GREEK Biblical text, in support of a doctrinal stance  
rather than of a grammatical demonstration."


The challenge:

Can your question be answered accordingly ?  Yes, I believe so.



Firstly, it's definitely an individual experience as can be shown from the singular PAS; much like the individual you see in the context of John 18:36 (Pilate.) Next it is the one who is "having their being"(WN) that is, as part of their present experience of being....what ? What can be said about how this one is, that is able to AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS.

His/her being (experience as one who has being) (read..their very life) .by this writer is given a very specific classification via the use of the genitive case which A.T. Robertson speaks of among other things on page 493 of his Grammar of the Greek New Testament:

 "That the genitive case is the specifying case, then, the case of appurtenance..(something having been added to something.)"

PAS hO WN EK THS ALHQEIAS....this then, is one whose life experience has (somehow) gone into that which is characterised by truth and has EK...come out of that realm or experience, or reality (whichever you prefer or that you can relate to) and now that,... has been added to...has become an appurtenance to WN. This is surely a substantial matter...enough so that the writer uses the heavy weight genitive case to describe, now, part of this person's very life.

Hopefully the following hypothetical example will be useful:

Suppose that I had been one of the persons attending the wedding, the one being held in one of the American owned hotels in Amman, Jordan. A bomb was detonated (as most of us probably are aware of) where that wedding was taking place. Suppose that I was one of the ones that survived...yet was wounded. It would then be a fair and accurate statement to say with a genitive-cased phrase that I (my life) was one now characterized by having EK "the bombing." Now this would speak at least two very specific things:

1. I had (somehow) ended up where there was a bombing
2. My life and perspective had at the very least been affected by that bombing if not altered significantly.

So for us to know who is this one described as:

"PAS hO WN EK THS ALHQEIAS AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS"

Well, it is one who (somehow) has gotten to and into the truth and whose life is now characterized by having come out of that experience and now has it's effect....so much so that Jesus claims that that one is able to:

"AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS".



Much more could be added to these comments but not from the text that you've mentioned, Stephen.

One matter is for sure, though. Unless one is able to come to the situation and reality of whatever "the truth" is, and then enter it.....


this one could never be described "truthfully" described by this phrase in John 18:36:


"PAS hO WN EK THS ALHQEIAS AKOUEI MOU THS FWNHS"




Virgil Newkirk
Salt Lake City, Utah


 


 
---
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek<http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek>
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek<http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek>



More information about the B-Greek mailing list