[B-Greek] Participles in 1 John
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Apr 19 10:17:52 EDT 2006
On Apr 19, 2006, at 9:35 AM, Perry L. Stepp wrote:
> Perhaps I've missed something in my haste, but I've just done a
> quick survey
> of all the participles in 1 John.
>
> Are ALL the participles in 1 John adjectival? I didn't find a
> circumstantial / adverbial participle in the bunch.
This question certainly made me wonder whether it could be true. But
in fact the overwhelming majority of participles in 1 John are
substantival (e.g. hO PISTEUWN, TON AGAPWNTA, and the like). of the
58 instances, I found only four about which one might ask further
questions; all of these are in the accusative and indicate a
predication about the direct object of the verb:
1 Jn 3:14 OUK ECEI ZWHN AIWNION EN AUTWi MENOUSAN. This would seem to
be purely adjectival, equivalent to a relative clause: "eternal life
that remains in him."
1 Jn 3:17 QEWRHi TON ADELFON AUTOU CREIAN ECONTA
1 Jn 4:2 hOMOLOGEI IHSOUN CRISTON EN SARKI ELHLUQOTA
1 Jn 5:16 EAN TIS IDHi TON ADELFON AUTOU hAMARTONTA hAMARTIAN MH PROS
QANATON
3:17 and 5:16 are instances of what I've always called a
"complementary participle" used with a verb of perception where the
participle really functions with the accusative object to make the
equivalent of a substantive clause: "sees THAT his brother has need,"
"see THAT his brother is committing a non-mortal sin ..." 4:2 would
seem to be similar: "confesses THAT Jesus Christ has come in flesh ..."
I suppose one could argue that all of these are really adjectival
participles, but insofar as their function depends upon the verb
governing the nominal object with which they accord, they surely
function in a predicative fashion.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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