[B-Greek] 1Jo 3:4,6 - hAMARTANW and POIEW + hAMARTIA
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Oct 6 05:52:47 EDT 2007
As a result of MIME formatting (rather than plain-text ASCII -- if
using MIME, one really ought to use the two-part, HTML + plain-text,
formatting) the following message was confusingly formulated. Below I
have separated Timothy Mitchell's response from the original query of
Matthew Burgoon. (CWC)
On Oct 6, 2007, at 12:00 AM, Timothy Mitchell wrote:
>
>
> on Sat, 29 Sep 2007 Matthew Burgoon wrote;
>
>> I have a newby question about 1 John 3:4,6:> PAS hO POIWN THN
>> hARMARTIAN ...> PAS hO EN AUTWi MENWN OUC hAMARTANEI ...>
>> The basic question is about the difference in sense between
>> hAMARTANO > and POIEW + hAMARTIA, but I actually wonder more about
>> method - how > would I go about answering the question for myself?
Timothy Mitchell's response;
>> I think that both phrases, POIEW+hAMARTIA and hAMARTANW have the
>> same sense. It seems, to me (I don't think my interpretation is
>> normal and is flavored by my theological views) that the author
>> uses POIEW+hAMARTIA in verse 4 instead of hAMARTANW because he
>> uses the verb POIEW in the present active voice to describe doing
>> ANOMIA. I think that this construction is used to bring out a
>> contemporaneous "in process" of the actions described. In other
>> words verse 4 could be translated "All who while (at the same
>> time) in process of doing sin are also in the process of doing
>> lawlessness (at the same time)".... I think this because of the
>> relationship between a present active participle and its present
>> active main verb. Wallace in GGBB describes this on pg 625 para c)
>> 2]..."The present participle is normally contemporaneous in time
>> to the action of the main verb. This is especially so when it is
>> related to a present tense main verb"...This is by no means the
>> only thing that the author is trying to do by using this
>> contstruction, but I believe that this is one of his purposes.In
>> verse 6 with the use of hO hAMARTAVWN, I think that it is being
>> used in the substantival sense, as the subject for the clause PAS
>> hO hAMARTAVWN OUX hEWRAKEN AUTON OUDE EGNWKEN AUTON. I think that
>> the author uses this verb to connect the clause back to verse 4 as
>> "all who are in the process of sinning". I think that the time
>> aspect is not as strong because it is being used substantivaly as
>> the subject, but I think that it's aspect is still there and it is
>> describing the action as "in process" with what is happening in
>> verse 4. In other words ...."All who are in process of sinning
>> have not seen God neither known him".Another thing can be noted,
>> some translators give the emphasis of the present tense here as
>> "habitual" or "continual", Wallace gives this viewpoint for some
>> verses in the Gospel of John. But I think that bringing a
>> "habitual" or "continual" aspect and not merely an "in process"
>> aspect brings an entirely different interpretive conclusion. I
>> think that certain contextual, or grammatical intrusions onto the
>> present tense, need to exist in this passage for the present tense
>> to have a "continual" or "habitual" aspect. There are none that I
>> can note, so the simple "in process" aspect is what I feel is
>> being portrayed here. Wallace gives some clarity on this when he
>> describes "Actionsart" on pg 615 para b. Wallace also gives some
>> explanation of this topic in verse 6 on pg 524 and 525. There are
>> some interpretive theological conclusion to be made from this but
>> I won't make them here (unless asked)....Thanks again for an
>> awesome list!In Christ
> Tim
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