[B-Greek] 1Jn 5:15 - EAN + OIDAMEN
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Jul 1 06:13:45 EDT 2008
On Jun 30, 2008, at 4:41 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
>
> On Jun 30, 2008, at 8:05 AM, Carl Conrad wrote:
>
>> Others may think differently about this, but I don't think there's
>> anything involved here other than a Koine weakening of a distinction
>> that was sharp(er) in the older language. We really ought to take
>> seriously the proposition that Koine Greek is a language in flux; I
>> know I've said this before, but perhaps it bears repeating: the
>> notion
>> that we should understand Koine Greek usage synchronically can be
>> valid ONLY if we concede that EAN, although ordinarily used with a
>> subjunctive, nevertheless quite frequently is used with an
>> indicative.
>
>
> 1JOHN 5:13 TAUTA EGRAYA hUMIN hINA EIDHTE hOTI ZWHN ECETE AIWNION,
> TOIS PISTEUOUSIN EIS TO ONOMA TOU hUIOU TOU QEOU. 14 KAI hAUTH ESTIN
> hH PARRHSIA hHN ECOMEN PROS AUTON hOTI EAN TI AITWMEQA KATA TO QELHMA
> AUTOU AKOUEI hHMWN. 15 KAI EAN OIDAMEN hOTI AKOUEI hHMWN hO EAN
> AITWMEQA, OIDAMEN hOTI ECOMEN TA AITHMATA hA HiTHKAMEN AP AUTOU. 16
> EAN TIS IDHi TON ADELFON AUTOU hAMARTANONTA hAMARTIAN MH PROS QANATON,
> AITHSEI KAI DWSEI AUTWi ZWHN, TOIS hAMARTANOUSIN MH PROS QANATON.
> ESTIN hAMARTIA PROS QANATON: OU PERI EKEINHS LEGW hINA ERWTHSHi.
>
>
> Assuming that in Koine the distinction between EI and EAN has
> retreated somewhat (but see Porter Idioms 1994 p256) we still need to
> decide what to do with EAN OIDAMEN in 1JOHN 5:15. Should we read it
> as equivalent to EI OIDAMEN? Porter, Culy and R.Young appear to base
> the semantic notion of "projection" in conditionals on the subjunctive
> (or non-indicative) verb forms. On the other hand Culy (1,2,3 John
> 2005 p134) classifies EAN OIDAMEN in 1JOHN 5:15 semantically as
> "projection", in other words Culy is taking EAN here to have its
> normal significance, not equivalent to EI, and treating the indicative
> OIDAMEN as if it were a subjunctive. This is an over simplification of
> Culy's remarks, never the less we still need to decide if this is a so
> called "first class" or as Culy reads it a "third class" conditional.
Yes, Martin Culy's comment on this EAN is more complex, but in his
bottom line on this question he speaks of the author's "solecistic use
of the indicative here." Suffice it to say that I think there are
other instances of extraordinary Greek usage in the later chapters of
1 John.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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