[B-Greek] John 1:18 Direct Discourse?

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Sat Aug 12 11:18:31 EDT 2006


>
>  Without understanding theos, and thus ekeinos, as the noun (and  
> pronoun) being
>  declared doesn't this leave John 1:18 as an incomplete sentence  
> without any stated
>  topic of the Son's declaration at all? Thus causing the translator  
> to write [?him]????


On Aug 12, 2006, at 4:08 AM, Harold Holmyard wrote:

>  I don't say this for certain, but the reference to a word in one
> phrase can sometimes carry over to the next phrase or clause so  
> that the
> word does not have to be repeated. It is understood from its first
> occurrence. In John 1:18 the author for emphasis has put the word QEON
> forward as the first word in the sentence, where it is the object  
> of the
> following verb. It is conceivable that to some degree it could carry
> over to function as the object of the second verb as well.

Jason,

I think Harold's suggestion here is correct. This sort of economy of  
expression is frequently found in greek outside of the NT. What looks  
like an incomplete sentence in English is quite acceptable in Greek.  
A clause constituent (e.g. subject, object) once stated can carry  
over to more than one subsequent clauses.



Elizabeth Kline







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