[B-Greek] him which is, and which was, and which is to come
Webb
webb at selftest.net
Sun Nov 20 22:19:14 EST 2005
Rev. 1:4
...from the is, the was, and the coming one.
(APO hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS)
This sounds cool when you sound it out phonetically :
ahpo ho own kai ho eyhn kai ho erchomenos
John is being poetic. In Greek you can't really say hO HN, i.e. "the was".
But it sounds good with hO WN in a way similar to the way "the is and the
was" sounds good. John knows his Greek, and he's bending the rules.
Rev. 1:8
I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God: the is, the was, and the
coming one (hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS): the all-powerful.
Rev. 4:8
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the all-powerful!
The was, the is, and the coming one (hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS).
Rev. 11:17
We give you thanks, Lord God, the all-powerful, the is, and the was (hO WN
KAI hO HN), because you have taken up your great power and you reign.
Notice that this last passage indicates what "hO ERCOMENOS" has been about.
Some translators treat it as meaning "to be", so that the three terms are
similar: "the was, the is, and the to be". But Rev. 11:17 indicates that it
means the one who "comes", as in "For he comes to judge the earth, and its
peoples with his truth" (Ps. 96:13). In Christ's coming to the earth, God
comes. In God's coming to the earth, Christ comes.
Webb Mealy
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list