[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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