[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/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list