[B-Greek] First tough verse syntactically / 1 John 2:6
Steve Runge
srunge at logos.com
Mon Feb 4 12:25:00 EST 2008
Jim,
You ask a great question. Part of the reason that this is a hard verse is that the verse contains a pretty big syntactic mismatch between what is allowable in Greek versus in English. Here is the text:
2:6 hO LEGWN EN AUTWi MENEIN OFEILEI KAQWS EKEINOS PERIEPATHSEN KAI AUTOS hOUTWS PERIPATEIN
2:6 ? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ???????????? ??? ????? [?????] ??????????.
There is a lot of hierarchically-connected syntax going on here, so lets take it one layer at a time. The participial clause hO LEGWN EN AUTWi MENEIN I analyze as a *casus pendens*, or what linguists would call a left-dislocation. This construction is typically used to introduce a brand new or complex entity into the context. In 2:6, this is the person that John wants to make a comment about. What makes it a pendens construction is referring to this same entity a second time somewhere in the main clause using a pronoun: AUTOS. So John wants to make a comment about the guy (generic reference) that thinks he abides in Jesus. This person is obligated to do something, which is described in the second part of the verse: KAQWS EKEINOS PERIEPATHSEN KAI AUTOS hOUTWS PERIPATEIN.
Here we have another casus pendens describing what this person is obligated to do. This time, instead of introducing an entity, John introduces a 'manner' which is reiterated in the main clause using what might be called a pro-adverb: hOUTWS. It functions like a pronoun in that it stands in the place of something else, but in this case it is an action or manner, not a noun.
The casus pendens in the second part of the verse is: KAQWS EKEINOS PERIEPATHSEN. This introduces a comparison. The far demonstrative is used to refer to Jesus to signal that he is not the main thematic focus, this manner is. If you refer back to v. 5b, you will find EN TOUTWi used cataphorically, pointing forward to the content that is disclosed in v. 6. Such forward-pointing references are a very popular rhetorical device used to get someone's attention. Compare to the English idiom "Hey, get this!" This is pointing ahead to what the speaker is interested in. In our case, the 'this' that John wants us to get is v. 6.
The manner is introduced in the casus pendens so that a comment can be made about it in the clause that follows. Summarizing where what is on the table, the one who thinks he abides in Jesus is obligated to do something. This something is to walk in the same manner as 'that one' walked. PERIPATEIN is an infinitive because it is the complement of OFEILEI, it completes the verbal idea.
But wait, there is more! We cannot forget the great use of the ascensive KAI, which creates an explicit thematic link between 'the one' and Jesus. Jesus is already doing the desired action. This is why he can be the basis of comparison. The comparison/connection is strengthened by using the adverbial KAI by essentially 'adding' the one to Jesus.
If you drop the bracketed hOUTWS, the reading looses a little punch, but still communicates largely the same content.
I mentioned a mismatch at the beginning. Our goal is to understand the Greek, even if we cannot translate it well. In colloquial English we rarely use casus pendens constructions. Instead, we (speaking for the American butchers of English) typically will use a rhetorical question to introduce the desired entity. For instance: "Do you remember the guy from work that I told you about last week? He...." Since the typical task accomplished by the pendens is (re)introduction, the rhetorical question works just fine. That being said, my 7 year old daughter uses pendens constructions like nobody's business: "This girl on the playground that was being really bossy to everyone, well she..." The resumptive pronoun plays a needed role when things get complex. Both the 'well' and the reiterating pronoun 'she' serve to signal the end of the pendens and the beginning of the comment ABOUT the pendens. The end of the question does the same thing.
One of the most frequently dropped elements in translation (besides to the particle MEN) is the resumptive pronoun that signals a pendens construction. These constructions are frequently used in places where the entity introduced in not big and hairy, essentially in contexts where it is overkill. The effect is to attract more attention to the entity than it would have received otherwise. Here is a simplified version of the same content, with the zing removed.
hO LEGWN EN AUTWi MENEIN OFEILEI PERIPATEIN KAQWS EKEINOS PERIEPATHSEN
This falls pretty flat, doesn't it? If you want to look at another one of these that is horribly overlooked, read the Golden Rule (Matt 7:12) in Greek. Wow, now that's zing.
Building on the translation versus understanding theme, the focus on translation has lead us to throw out devices (and the 'extra' Greek words that signal them) that do not have a counterpart in English. Instead, we need to understand Greek AS Greek, and worry about translation much latter.
Hope this helps. Embrace complexity, do not steam roll it! If you want more of a description of how pendens constructions function, contact me off list. I have a 3 page doc that introduces the concept and works through some examples.
Regards,
Steve
Steven Runge, DLitt (Biblical Languages)
Scholar-in-Residence
Logos Research Systems, Inc.
http://www.logos.com/academic/bio/runge
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JMonte2000 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 7:03 AM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] First tough verse syntactically / 1 John 2:6
Hi all I came across my 1st hard verse concerning syntax 1 John 2:6. I realize this is more a translational issue, but it has to do with syntax also, that might be ok for the list.
In Baugh's 1 John reader he says right up front this is a tuff verse syntactically and just helps with the translation explaining what he's doing. After I went through the verse and then checked all translations, it seems no one seems to translate all the words into English, does this happen often, and should I not be so concerned about every word in the Greek text being brought over into English? KJ came close to using every word, but it was so awkward in English.
I see also there's a variant hOUTWS, I hope I'm writing the word correctly.
Any suggestions with this?
Again forgive me, but I hope this is enough of a syntactical question to make it ok for the list.
Grace and peace
Jim Montesano
**************Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.
(http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?NCID=aolcmp003000000025
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