[B-Greek] John 1:18 theos declared the Son
Jason Kerrigan
jasonandshon at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 13 00:50:16 EDT 2006
Does structural parallelism bear any weight when seeking to
discover the beginning of sentences in the
Greek text? I ask because you would see somewhat of
a parallel if John 1:18 said:
God no man has seen at any time; but the only begotten
God, the one being in the bosom of the Father, that one
declared.
But unless theos functioned as a direct discourse object
noun then this would not be a parallel at all, correct?
If theos in the second clause it is to be understood as the
subject noun then could it be that God declared the Son?
And if John, who previously baptized Christ, witnessed the
Father's declaration, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased," then wouldn't this give occasion for
a post baptismal statement by the Baptist such as:
"God (subject), the one being in the bosom of the Father
(i.e. precious to the Father? the Son - object), that one
(object pronoun) declared (at the baptism)"?
/
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"
And perhaps this would justify the Baptist's usage of
Father/Son terminology within John 1:18 (especially
if he was referring to the baptismal declaration in
particular).
And no one responded to the previous post:
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
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