[B-Greek] 1 John 5:18: different tense indicates different persons?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Mar 14 06:36:42 EST 2004


(I am forwarding the following message with minor editorial changes
(transliteration corrected {S = final sigma, C = chi, h = rough-breathing},
full-name signature supplied in accordance with B-Greek protocol--cwc)

From: "Rijk van den Hengel" <rijk at vandenhengel.info>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: 1 John 5:18: different tense indicates different persons?
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:20:53 +0100

1 John 5:18 reads: 'OIDAMEN hOTI PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU QEOU OUC
hAMARTANEI ALL' hO GENNHQEIS EK TOU QEOU THREI [hE]AUTON KAI hO PONHROS
OUC HAPTETAI AUTOU'.

It is NOT my intention to discuss the text-critical issue about
[hE]AUTON. I would like to hear your opinion about the use of the
difference in tense in both participles.

The International Critical Commentary writes about the two participles:
'But no explanation of the change from the perfect to the aorist
participle is altogether satisfactory, if both are referred to the same
person, i.e. the man who has experienced the new birth'.

Questions:

1. Does the fact that the first participle is a perfect and the second
participle is an aorist really indicate that the second participle does
not refer to PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU QEOU?

2. Do the following combinations of participles give rise to the
opposite assumption that the second participle refers to PAS hO
GEGENNHMENOV EK TOU QEOU?
  a. 1 Peter 1:20: PROEGNWSMENOU and FANERWQENTOS
  b. 1 Peter 2:10: HLEHMENOI and ELEHQENTES
  c.  1 Peter 3:18: QANATWQEIS and ZWOPOIHQEIS
  d. John 12:29: hESTWS and AKOUSAS
  e. 2 Corinthians 12:21: PROHMARTHKOTWN and METANOHSANTWN

Kind regards,
Richard van den Hengel,
The Netherlands.




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