[B-Greek] Jn 1:18b EIS TON KOLPON

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 18 07:06:34 EDT 2006


On Aug 17, 2006, at 11:17 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:

> Jn 1:18b hO WN EIS TON KOLPON TOU PATROS EKEINOS EXHGHSATO
>
> Source (by A. Nyland) renders (quite unlike all others)
>
> 'he is the one who led the way to the place of honor at the  
> Father's side.'
>
> Aside from the meanings of the verb hEXHGEOMAI 'to lead the way' 'show
> the way' instead of 'to explain', she takes the phrase EIS TON KOLPON
> TOU PATROS to be connected to the verb.

As an aside, I notice that she gives the verb as hEXHGEOMAI, and  
perhaps you took that directly from her version, entitled "The  
Source." But the verb has no rough breathing on that initial prefix  
EX: it's EXHGEOMAI.

>
> All other translations I know take this to connect hO WN (the one in
> the Father's bosom). However this traditional rendering would make
> sense if the text reads 'EN TW KOLPW' (as in Jn 13:23).  With the
> preposition EIS instead, the way she renders the text appears
> grammatically more acceptable.
>
> Can you help me see the basis of one over the other?

This is an interesting suggestion; I see nothing amiss in  
understanding EXHGHSATO in the sense of "led the way" EXHGEOMAI can  
certainly have that sense in extra-Biblical literature, although the  
usage within the GNT seems to be limited to the senses, "explain" and  
"report." But it looks to me like she's understanding that phrase EIS  
TON KOLPON, which in the Greek construes essentially with hO WN ("the  
one who has his being in the Father's bosom") as doing double duty  
and construing also with EXHGHSATO. And if I understand her phrasing  
correctly, it seems to me that EIS TON KOLPON is understood  
differently in the two

Her version in fuller context: "No one has ever seen God at any time.  
The Only Son [reading hUIOS rather than QEOS}, the One who is closest  
to the Father's heart -- he is the one who led the way to the place  
of honor at the Father's side."

I wonder whether EIS TON KOLPON really bears that sense of "the place  
of honor at the Father's side." That might seem to be the sense in  
the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Lk 16:22ff.), perhaps for the place  
of honor at the eschatological banquet. So I wouldn't rule it out,  
although the sense in the phrase hO WN EIS TON KOLPON TOU PATROS  
seems rather one of intimacy. But I wouldn't automatically rule out  
the usage of a phrase by this author in a dual sense: "John" likes to  
use figurative language, synonymous expressions, etc., and some  
interpreters (myself included) think that ANWQEN in John 3:3 is  
deliberately used to suggest dual senses: "from above" and "anew/from  
the beginning (da capo)."

This verse and especially the second clause of John 1:18 has a text  
that is problematic in many ways. There are the variants QEOS and  
hUIOS with MONOGENHS; there's the asyndeton between the clauses (just  
a couple days ago we were arguing about whether there was contrast or  
antithesis between the two clauses, since there's no conjunction  
linking the clauses); there's the awkward resumptive EKEINOS  
following upon the appositional phrase hO WN EIS TON KOLPO TOU  
PATROS; there's the omission of an explicit object of EXHGHSATO,  
which is what makes it possible for most interpreters to supply QEON  
from the opening of the first clause and which is evidently Ann's  
opening to supply EIS TON KOLPON TOU PATROS from what immediately  
precedes. ...

And finally, there's the awkward usage of EIS TON KOLPON with the  
verb EINAI in the nominal phrase hO WN EIS TON KOLPON; normally we  
don't have an EIS + acc. phrase with an existential EINAI but rather  
with verbs of motion. But earlier in the prologue we had something  
similar in HN PROS TON QEON in 1:1 and 2, so I would suppose that  
this particular usage of EIS + acc. with WN is intended to express  
special intimacy, "who has his being deep in the heart of the  
Father." But if that's the sense of EIS TON KOLPON in the first  
phrase, why isn't it the sense also where it is to be understood (if  
it is to be understood) with EXHGHSATO ("the one who is intimate  
relationship with the Father is the one who has led the way to  
initimate relationship with the Father." There's no question that the  
notion of what I'd call "covenant mutual indwelling" is a Johannine  
theme (cf. the "true vine", John 14:20, etc.), so that, if the  
suggestion should be taken seriously that EIS TON KOLPON TOU PATROS  
is to be understood with EXHGHSATO as "led the way" or "showed the  
way," I really don't see why intimate closeness wouldn't be the more  
appropriate sense for EIS TON KOLPON.

You have asked, Oun, for guidance to choose between two alternatives.  
I think I am inclined to prefer the traditional view of the syntactic  
link-ups of John 1:18b, but (a) the text of the verse is loaded with  
problems any way you look at it, and (b) understanding EIS TON KOLPON  
as implicit with EXHGHSATO as "led the way" or "showed the way" is,  
it seems to me, every bit as plausible as the traditional  
understanding. I guess that leaves it a NON LIQUET: it ain't so  
clear, after all.


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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