[B-Greek] hO ESTIN? (1 Jn 2:8)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Feb 9 19:07:03 EST 2007


On Feb 9, 2007, at 6:53 PM, Webb wrote:

> 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).

I should have cited his English version of the passage:

"(2:7) Dear friends, I am not writing a new command to you, but  
rather an old command that you have had since the beginning. The old  
command is the message that you heard. (8) On the other hand, I AM  
writing a new command to you -- and this claim (that I am writing a  
new command) is true in and of itself and with respect to you --  
becaue the darkness is disappearing and the true light is now shining."

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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