Re: 1 John 5:20 - who is hOUTOS?

From: GregStffrd@aol.com
Date: Fri Aug 28 1998 - 10:42:01 EDT


In a message dated 8/27/98 9:48:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
spiffy@learningstar.com writes:

<< Normally, hOUTOS refers to an immediate antecedent. Does that mean that
 hOUTOS in 1 John 5:20 is referring to IHSOU CRISTWi, or does it refer to TON
 ALHQINON?
 
 Kyle Dillon >>

hOUTOS may have an anaphoric, deictic, contrastive or cataphoric reference. I
don't know that hOUTOS *normally* refers to an immediate antecedent. Each
instance must be analyzed in view of its own context, both immediate and
larger.

In 2 John 7 we have a case where hOUTOS does not refer to the immediate
antecedent. In John 11:4 hAUTH hH ASTHENEIA refers to the cognate verb in
verses 1, 2, and 3. In this case the noun that follows hAUTH points out the
natural antecedent.

I believe the same is true in 1 John 5:20, where hO ALHTHINOS, following
hOUTOS, refers to the TON ALHTHINON . . . TWi ALHTHINWi of the previous verse.
Others take a different view and consider IHSOU CHRISTOU as the reference.

This issue, as it relates to 1 John 5:20, was discussed at some length a few
months ago. You may want to check the archives.

Greg Stafford

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:39:57 EDT