[B-Greek] John 1:18 theos declared the Son?
Jason Kerrigan
jasonandshon at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 12 16:06:20 EDT 2006
Harold, you are earning my respect more and more with each
response I read. I sincerely thank you for your help.
In light of the fact that the object of the declaration is vague
in the traditional interpretation (at least as far as my meager
perception grasps), and in acceptance of your point that
it would be unlikely for the Baptist to refer to Jesus declaring
God at the time these statements were made, I would like to
humbly offer another interpretation of the text (I can almost
taste the foot already).
It would be utterly rediculous for the Baptist to say
"Grace and truth came through Jesus CHRIST" and
then SUBSEQUENTLY engage in a conversation
regarding he himself NOT being the Christ (Jn. 1:20-
25) after he already identified who the Christ was.
With that being said, I propose that John 1:15-18
was spoken by John the Baptist (according to Origen)
subsequent to his discussion with the Levites in John
1:19-28. This seems vindicated because he ends his
discussion in John 1:27 by speaking of a future coming
one who they did not know, but in John 1:15 he says,
"This is whom I said (past tense), "He that cometh after
me..."
This would mean that John, the apostle, gave his narrative
account in the following manner:
(1:15 )"John witnessed concerning him... [John's witness
in v.15-18] ... (1:19) And this (what he just recorded) is the
witness that John gave WHEN (all of the following text
describes the scenario in which the statements of John 1:15
- 18 were spoken) they sent to him and asked
"Who art thou" [...discussion between the two parties all the
way to the text previously stated]."
WIth that being said, could it be that John, who announces
who the Christ is (this being subsequent to his baptism)
in John 1:15-18 and shows that the Father (probably in
reference to the baptsim) also previously declared the Son?
Thus making the direct discourse of John 1:15-18 be
interpreted as: "God (subject), the one being in the bosom
of the Father (object i.e. the Son), that one (object pronoun)
hath declared."
Also, I respectfully request your insights regarding the NIV
translation of 1John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God; but.."
There is nothing, as I see it, that presents a "but" statement
in the Greek, and that is why I was saying that perhaps,
though there is no Greek word for "but" or "except" in John
1:18, it too could be understood as such (just as in the NIV
rendering of 1John 4:12).
Thanks for everything,
Jason Kerrigan
In light of the fact that this all occurred after Christ's ba
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