[B-Greek] John 18:37

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Mon Jan 8 08:17:44 EST 2007


Randall Buth wrote:
> (I will leave the last sentence "SY LEGEIS" for the  
> commentaries. there is more than one way to read it.)
>   

HH: LSJ, s.v. LEGW, has something interesting at Roman numeral III and 
point  6. LSJ says that LEGW TI means to "say something, i.e., speak to 
the point or purpose." So the words LEGW TI as a question imply "Am I 
right?" The answer is LEGEIS, implying I assume, "You are right." This 
is interesting because the situation is similar in John, where Pilate is 
asking a question that by OUKOUN calls for a "yes" answer, just like the 
situation in the lexicon when the answer is LEGEIS. So Jesus would be 
answering Pilate, "You are right that I am a king." He went on to 
explain that his function in the world was to bear witness to the truth. 
Pilate's question was incited by Jesus' earlier statement, "My kingdom 
is not of this world" (Jn 18:36), so it would be natural for Jesus' 
answer to Pilate's question to involve an admission that he was a king. 
After all, he had already admitted that he had a kingdom.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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