[B-Greek] Comparing John 1:18 & 1John 4:12
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard at ont.com
Sat Aug 12 15:10:08 EDT 2006
Jason Kerrigan wrote:
>There is a very interesting comparison that can be made when comparing John 1:18
> with 1John 4:12.
>
> John 1:18 says, "theon oudeis heoraken popote monogenes" (God no-man has-seen
> at-any-time the-only-begotten)
>
> 1John 4:12 says, "theon oudeis popote tetheatai ean agapomen" (God no-man at-any-
> time has-beheld if we-love)
>
> The NIV translates 1John 4:12 as, "No one has ever seen God; but if we love" (bold
> letters mine)
>
> By the same standard used to translate 1John 4:12 in the NIV couldn't John 1:18
> be translated as, "No man has seen God at any time but/except the only begotten"?
>
> We see this implication in some Ante Nicene quotations:
>
> "As it is written in the Gospel: 'No man has seen God at any time, except the only-
> begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; He has declared him." (- Irenaeus,
> Ante Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, pg.489)
>
> And, "It is also supported by the scripture: 'No man has seen God at any time,
> except the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.'" (- Disputation
> of Archelaus and Manes, Ante Nicene Fathers Vol.6, pg.205)
>
> (These two tranlsations are taken from "A Dictionary of Early Christ Beliefs," published by Hendrickson, pg. 642)
>
>
HH: The quotation marks make it appear as though the men were directly
quoting Scripture, but I doubt there is anything in their Greek to imply
a direct quotation. It could be a paraphrase. There is nothing in the
Greek of John 1:18 that corresponds to the word "except," which suggests
that they were paraphrasing the verse to get all the thoughts in a
single sentence.
>
> This would produce an agreeing structure in the second clause of John 1:18 as found in the first clause of John 1:18. Harold pointed out that the object noun theon is
> stated before the verb in the first clause ("God no man has seen") likewise, if
> monogenes is an ending to the first clause (no man has seen God at any time except
> the only begotten") then the second clause would also begin by stating the object first
> ("God, the one being in the bosom of the Father, that one declared").
>
> "No man hath seen God at any time except the only begotten. God, the one being in
> the bosom of the Father that one declared."
>
>
>
> or
>
> "No man hath seen God at any time except the only begotten. The one being in the bosom of the Father hath declared God."
>
>
HH: There is no "except" in the Greek of John 1:18, nor is there any way
to assume its presence as unstated. You have to be careful with
quotations from early church leaders. They often paraphrase, or quote
from memory so as to be incorrect.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>
>
>
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