[B-Greek] hO ESTIN? (1 Jn 2:8)
Webb
webb at selftest.net
Fri Feb 9 18:53:56 EST 2007
Dear Carl,
Thanks for sharing that material. Very useful. I can't say I'm finally
persuaded by the analysis, and despite my lack of expertise in Greek, I
venture to say that it results in an extremely bland and uncharacteristic
(of John) statement: "the fact that I'm writing you a new command is both
true in itself and true in [i.e. for] you".
I'm going to speculate that John, when he says
PALIN ENTOLHN KAINHN GRAFW hUMIN,
Is then thinking, but not writing, AGAPATE ALLHLOUS (cf. Jn 13:34).
I suspect that it is that unspoken command--not the word "command"--which is
resumed by the relative clause:
hO ESTIN ALHQES EN AUTW KAI EN hUMIN
That is to say, John is saying that the command, "love one another", despite
not being a statement in the indicative, is "True" both in Christ and in
them. And it is shown to be true hOTI (because) the darkness of hatred is
dissipating and the light of mutual love is already shining. And, if
somebody says they're in this new light and hates their brother or sister,
they're actually still in the dark (2:9).
Webb Mealy
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