[B-Greek] 1 John 3.18
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Apr 13 03:50:19 EDT 2007
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Cox" <bccox99 at tx.rr.com>
To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 3:13 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1 John 3.18
>>>2. Why does GLWSSHi have the article?
>>
>> Possibly to suggest "your"?
>
> I couldn't mean "your", could it, considering the verb AGAPWMEN, which is a
> subjunctive 1st person plural?
Well, it could, once we accept that meaning and pragmatics go beyond simple grammar. The initial
TEKNIA clearly indicates that the author is not speaking primarily about or to himself, but he is
giving an exhortation to his hearers, and therefore the pragmatic sense could well be "you(r)
plural". It is common to have skewed pronouns so that a first person form in singular is intended to
refer to the addressee and a first person plural is likewise intended to refer to the addressees.
When I teach this in our Bible translation courses, I usually call these the "representative 'I' "
for singular and the "polite 'we' " for plural. The intention is to admonish without offending.
For instance, Paul uses the representative "I" in 1 Cor 13:1-3, Gal 2:18, Rom 7:7-25 and probably
other places. The polite 'we' he uses in 1 Cor 10:6-8 among other places ("Now these things are
warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters... We must not indulge in
immorality.."
>
> Could the article imply "with the tongue" rather than "in {a} tongue
> {language}"?
Without or without the article, the sense in this context is not "language." I suspect the article
here indicates not so much our/your tongue as "through the medium of the tongue". I take LOGWi to
refer to words that the speaker has processed through the mind and thought about, whereas "by the
tongue" may refer to things we say without thinking too much about what we say. Clichés. In 1 Cor
14:14-15 Paul compares speaking GLOSSHi and speaking TWi NOI. It is a different sense of "tongue",
but I see a close connection between tongue and speech rather than tongue and mind. On the other
hand, it could just be parallel synonyms used for emphasis.
Iver Larsen
Translation consultant.
p.t. Denmark
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