[B-Greek] Is there a contrast in John 1:18?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Aug 15 06:07:25 EDT 2006


On Aug 15, 2006, at 12:31 AM, Jason Kerrigan wrote:

> Hey everyone,
>
>   I thank you all for helping me as you have...
>   I don't intend on posting much after this, and I
>   thank you all for bearing with me.
>
>   Hey Harold, I appreciate all you have helped me with
>   and I do not want to be a source of frustration for
>   you. I do however want to either reconcile or contrast
>   your position with Iver's. He says there is an implicit
>   contrast that can be made explicit, but it seems
>   as if you disagree. Were you merely stating that
>   in a literal translation the contrast would remain implicit
>   at best, or were you rather denying a contrast altogether?
>
>   I am not trying to focus on the translation of the passage
>   as a whole, but only upon the extent of the contrast (if
>   there is any). I truly truly thank you for all of the help. As
>   you can see, I am in need of it. Thank you for your patience.
>
>   Sincerely wanting to learn,
>   Jason Kerrigan

Perhaps I have no business anticipating how Iver might answer this  
question, but it seems to me that there is a fundamental antithesis  
or antithetical formulation in John 1:18.

Text: QEON OUDEIS hEWRAKEN PWPOTE; MONOGENHS QEOS hO WN EIS TON  
KOLPON TOU PATROS EKEINOS EXHGHSATO.
My Englishing endeavor to preserve the sense and the impact of the  
word-order: "As for God, nobody has ever seen (Him); the one-of-a- 
kind God who has his being in the bosom of the Father, HE has made  
(Him -- QEON) known."

The CONCEPTUAL antithetical notions are (a) the INVISIBILITY of God  
to human observers, and (b) the REVELATION of the unseen God to human  
observers by one who is himself essentially God. For that reason, a  
"but" introducing the second clause (MONOGENHS QEOS ... EXHGHSATO) is  
in order: Nobody has ever SEEN God, BUT that one, the one-of-a-kind  
God who has his being in the Father's bosom, has REVEALED (Him = God)."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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