[B-Greek] John 3:29 hO hESTHKWS KAI AKOUWN
CTCE
jfs at jfsanders.com
Thu Dec 21 00:01:39 EST 2006
Dr. Conrad,
I wish to make an inquiry at this juncture of my study of Koine Greek, and it will be reference to John 3:29 hO hESTHKWS KAI AKOUWN. I am not in a position to make commentary, but I do wish commentary on my thinking process.
To begin with, I am influenced by an article that I read by William Gardiner Hale, who wrote "The Art of Reading Latin: How to Teach It" back in 1887 (which is easily obtained from the WWW). Although the pedagogy will change, the overall system or goal appears to me to be correct.
therefore, let me present my stage for understanding this passage. I am going to be in an audience somewhere in the Empire, sometime after Domitian (since this is John and I do not wish to step on anyone's shoes). Next to me is a young lass, maybe about 10 and on the other side of me is a young lad, perhaps 13. Someone up front is reading this section of John. These two young people are listening to what is read, hearing the words in a linear fashion and understanding them instantaneously. As smart as I think I am, I keep my mouth shut as I do not want these two ragamuffins to know how much more clever they are than I.
We now come to this point, the speaker says hO. Ok, this is an article, it is masculine single in the nominative. Anything can follow this word, but I know the speaker is telling me that a substantive is coming along somewhere. The next word is hESTHKWS, a participle.
Let me break this monologue here. I wish to tell you my thinking on verbs and participles. To me the verb is the main actor, it has the limelight, but sometimes we need a verb in a supporting role. Greek uses the participles in this supporting role. What does a participle have that a verb does not, case. What does a participle lack that a verb has, person and mood. So to my mind what identifies a verb in Greek as a verb is person and mood-it is that energy to make a verb do the things it wants to do. A participle lacks that spark, it needs to be associated with something in some manner, and that is what case does for it, either directly or indirectly.
Once upon a time I thought that aspect ruled in verbs (and participles). But after you presented something written by Plato to an inquiry from Elizabeth Kline, I am back to associating a time frame with aspect. There are three time frames, the now, the before, and the later. There are two aspects, either completed or not completed in some form.
So that brings us back to hESTHKWS. It is masculine, single, and nomenative. So immediately I will assoicate it with hO, the preceding article. It is also in the now time frame, but perfect-that is completed. For this particular verb I would not be surprised if this is the default form used in the now time frame, I do not know though. So I have "the standing (one)". I also will associate this with hO FILOS, the friend just a few words previously introduced. The next word is KAI. So now I am need to see what I am co-ordinating here, another word or another phrase, something. Well, I am going to co-ordinate AKOUWN, another participle which is masculine, single and in the nomenative. It is even in the now timeframe, this time in the present or uncompleted form. So my mind will immediately associate this participle with the preceding hO and the preceding participle. so I have "the standing and hearing (one)." And the source of this standing and hearing one is him, referring back to the bridegroom. (I take this concept from Jan Hoogland's paper).
I can go on, but I fear I have taken too much of your time already. I do not know what the writer intended to say, but I do think I have an idea of what a listener would understand as the words are spoken in a linear fashion and I hear and interpret them in a linear fashion. At least I hope I am going in lthe right direction.
John Sanders
Suzhou, China
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