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

Craig J newsgroupstuff at gmail.com
Fri Aug 18 20:58:02 EDT 2006


> Well, I'm not sure that it really is in a different sense, nor sure  
> either that it would undermine her translation; I would understand  
> both in the same sense: "in intimate communion with the 
> Father." Moreover, it's not serving in a different way than 
> we understand the  
> initial QEON of John 1:18 to be functioning both as object of  
> hEWRAKEN in the first clause and as object of EXHGHSATO in the second.

Okay, so it would be like this: "the one who is in intimate communion with
the Father, that one leads [to the same intimate communion]". Then the last
phrase could be smoothed out in English to "he is the one who led the
way..." I guess that sounds pretty reasonable.

In some ways "leads" and "declares" are not so different, hence the
development of usage I guess. When I explain or declare something to
someone, I lead them to the same understanding as myself. The purpose or end
of declaring in John 1:18 would be the same as that for leading. The
interpretative questions regarding the meaning of John 1:18 would probably
still be the same with either "leads" or "declares". Similarly whether we
choose "God" or "the place intimately close to God" as the object of
EXHGHSATO, whether we are led to God or the place next to God, substantially
amounts to the same thing. And if that 'place' is metaphorical rather than
physical, it can mean the same as "declaring". Anyhow, my point in this
rambling is that a translation of "lead" rather than "declare" is not
necessarily too controversial in the meanings it allows, although it
certainly creates a different picture in one's mind I suppose...

--
Craig Johnson
Brisbane, Australia
Blog Experiment: http://bloggledegook.blogspot.com/




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