Re: 1 John

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sun Apr 30 2000 - 10:28:05 EDT


At 6:54 AM -0500 4/30/00, Brian Sullivan wrote:
>A few months back Greg Kilbrai suggested 1 John was a good bible book to
>start off in reading Greek. Hence, as I have time, I have begun to attempt
>a translation of this work, for the shear pleasure of it, as well as for
>the practice.
>
>My question is: what Greek issues in this bible book fascinate you as
>fellow b-Greekers? Are there particular passages that you feel worthy of
>extra comment?

I think that the single primary reason for recommending 1 John may have
less to do with specific qualities about its Greek other than the book's
being short and the Greek probably easier or at least as easy as any other
in the Greek NT. Actually it may be deceptively easy: the basic sense of
almost every verse is immediately transparent to anyone who understands the
basics learned in as little as a semester of Greek, and yet there are
questions that arise almost as soon as one gets beneath the surface.

The first four verses of chapter 1, for instance, do seem transparent in
sense, yet diagramming that unit's syntax can be quite a challenge.
Certainly it's a wonderful and memorable sequence, and there are several
others in 1 John, of which I'll mention only a couple of my own favorites
(I'm sure other list-members will have their own favorites):

4:20 EAN TIS EIPHi hOTI AGAPW TON QEON KAI TON ADELFON AUTOU MISHi, YEUSTHS
ESTIN.

4:18 FOBOS OUK ESTIN EN THi AGAPHi ALL' hH TELEIA AGAPH EXW BALLEI TON
FOBON, hOTI hO FOBOS KOLASIN ECEI, hO DE FOBOUMENOS OU TETELEIWTAI EN THi
AGAPHi.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics/Washington University One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018 Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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