[b-greek] Re: John 3:8

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 04 2001 - 17:08:24 EST


At 4:50 PM -0500 12/4/01, David Fox wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>I have a query concerning John 3:8,
>
>TO PNEUMA hOPOU QELEI PNEI, KAI THN FWNHN AUTOU AKOUEIS, ALL' OUK OIDAS
>POQEN ERCETAI KAI POU hUPAGEI hOUTWS ESTIN PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU
>PNEUMATOS.
>
>Most tranlations put, 'The wind blows where it wishes etc.' whereas Jay
>Green in his MKJV has, 'The Spirit breathes where He desires etc.'
>Apparently John Wycliff translated it the same as Green.
>
>It makes it harder when PNEUMA and PNEI both have double meanings.
>
>What do you think?

Inasmuch as the intended meaning depends upon the shifting of the breeze as
a natural phenomenon and it becomes clear in the sequence that the shifting
of the breeze is representative of the behavior of the Spirit, I think it
would be wrong to convert it here to a monovalent sense and make it refer
ONLY to THE SPIRIT. John's gospel repeatedly uses metaphorical and
analogical language but this is rarely misleading to a reader/listener of
ordinary intelligence. So I think the primary referent in 3:8 is the
meteorological wind and that's the way it should be translated.
--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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