[B-Greek] subject in Rev 1:1

Oun Kwon kwonbbl at gmail.com
Sat Aug 16 00:33:50 EDT 2008


2008/8/15 Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org>:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
> To: "Beata Urbanek" <beata.urbanek at op.pl>
> Cc: "B-Greek B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; "John Sanders" <
john.franklin.sanders at gmail.com>
> Sent: 15. august 2008 13:21
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] subject in Rev 1:1
>

> Several have already commented, and I am not going to add much.
> Tom Moore pointed out that the implied subject of the infinitive DEIXAI
ought to be the same as
> AUTWi, that is Jesus.
> Even in Carl's example, when a father gives a bat to his son to show to
his friends, it is
> understood that it is the son who is going to show the bat to his friends.
This is a logical
> deduction partly from the object "his son" (or him), partly from the
meaning of "give". Once it has
> been given to the son, it is in his possession and therefore he is the one
to show it to his
> friends.
>
> Likewise, God gave AUTWi (Jesus) something for him to show to his (Jesus')
servants.
>
> Another point is the common Hebrew circular or overlapping thought pattern
where the second clause
> elaborates on the first. ESHMANEN is semantically overlapping with DEIXAI
and therefore has the same
> semantic agent, especially since the recipients are also overlapping: TOIS
DOULOIS AUTOU and TWi
> DOULWi AUTOU.
>
> And as Vasile ESHMAMEN/EDEIXEN earlier, Rev 22:16 makes it clear that
Jesus is the intended subject
> in 1:1 also:
> EGW, IHSOUS, EPEMYA TON AGGELON MOU MARTURHSAI hUMIN TAUTA.
>
> Iver Larsen
>
>

Pardon to add a layman's viewpoint.

I think a key to clarify the agents of the verbs is to take the first half
of the verse 1:1a  as the title. (From APOKALUYIS to TACEI). Then try to
identify those clauses subordinating to the main flow of the text to be put
into the parenthesis.


Copying the text again, it looks like this.

1:1a  *  *APOKALUYIS* *IHSOU CRISTOU
                  (hHN EDWKEN AUTWi hO QEOS)
       *   DEIXAI* TOIS DOULOIS AUTOU (hA DEI GENESQAI EN TACEI)

1:1 b    KAI *ESHMANEN *
                   *(APOSTEILAS* DIA TOU AGGELOU AUTOU)
           TWi DOULWi AUTOU (IWANNHi)

Then the thing following seems to unfold with less ambiguity.

Taking APOKALUYIS IHSOU as  'Revelation by Jesus', after the title is
declared,  we expect the narrative to go on saying *what and how Jesus
reveals*. This is what we are presented in detail with 1:1b. Here introduced
by a conjuctional KAI (working at the level of discourse) comes a
ESHMANEN-clause. Thus Revealing (by Jesus from God) = Showing with signs (by
Jesus).

Then in 1:1b, the subject of ESHMANEN is Jesus. Jesus is also the subject of
APOSTEILAS. AGGELOU AUTOU is Jesus' messenger. DOULWi AUTOU is Jesus'
servant.

Now, going back to the 1:1a.   The clause hHN EDWKEN AUTWi hO QEOS is
thought of parenthetical to describe APOKALUYIS.  This AUTW (Jesus) in this
clause is picked up as the subject of the next verb DEIXAI. This
DEIXAI-clause explains *why Jesus reveals*. Again, here DOULOIS AUTO is
Jesus' servants.

My conclusion, then, is like Iver's. In the whole verse, EDWKEN is the only
veb taking God as the subject in a parenthetical clause. 'Of Him' is 'of
Jesus' through out the verse.

I hope I have made my points clear enough to be followed without ambiguity.

Oun Kwon.



More information about the B-Greek mailing list