[B-Greek] Musings over John 1:16

Donald COBB docobb at orange.fr
Wed Apr 15 01:41:57 EDT 2009


Hello folks,

I've been looking over the Prologue to John's Gospel over the last few days, and keep coming up against the hOTI that opens v. 16 : 

hOTI EK TOU PLHRWMATOS AUTOU hHMEIS PANTES ELABOMEN KAI CARIN ANTI CARITOS

The usual meaning of hΟΤΙ would be "for / because". The textual variant (replacing hOTI with KAI) shows that the construction is difficult, and several commentators suggest looking at v. 15 as an intrusive secondary addition, observing that v. 16 flows much more naturally from v. 14. From the point of view of vocabulary and progression of thought, the point is well taken. It seems to me, however, that even if we connect v. 16 directly to v. 14, keeping the meaning as "because", the logical connection still remains problematical.

BDAG, under 5,c, gives "so that (as a result)" as a possible function of hOTI, referring to Jn 7:35 as an example: 

POU hOUTOS MELLEI POREUESQAI hOTI hMEIS OUC hEURHSOMEN AUTON; "...so that we will not find him?"

That seems like an interesting option for 1:16, with the result that v. 16 then opens up a new thought, building on v. 15 (or directly on v. 14 or even the two verses together, thus, e.g., Ridderbos). The difficulty, as I see it, is that the only examples given use hHOTI to open an apodosis. My question, then, is twofold: firstly, can hOTI bear this meaning at the beginning of a new clause, and not merely in an apodosis? Secondly, does anyone have examples of such a usage elsewhere in Koine Greek, inside or outide the NT?

Any other suggestions for translation? Thanks in advance for your input.


Donald Cobb
Aix-en-Provence, France






More information about the B-Greek mailing list