η αγαπη του θεου in 1 John
Posted: December 2nd, 2017, 9:57 am
I'm trying to understand how best to translate the phrase η αγαπη του θεου in its several instances in 1 John. The ESV translates it either as "the love of God" or "God's love" but I was wondering whether "love for God" could be a better translation as it makes more sense to me from the context of most of the below passages. My problem though is can a simple possessive construction like "the X of Y" be understood as "X for Y" in Koine Greek? Can that be grammatically correct?
Here are the passages and how I might translate them into English:
ος δ αν τηρη αυτου τον λογον αληθως εν τουτω η αγαπη του θεου τετελειωται εν τουτω γινωσκομεν οτι εν αυτω εσμεν (1 John 2:5)
"But whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God has been perfected..."
ος δ αν εχη τον βιον του κοσμου και θεωρη τον αδελφον αυτου χρειαν εχοντα και κλειση τα σπλαγχνα αυτου απ αυτου πως η αγαπη του θεου μενει εν αυτω (1 John 3:17)
"...how does love for God abide in him?" i.e. "..how can he say that he loves God?"
εν τουτω εφανερωθη η αγαπη του θεου εν ημιν οτι τον υιον αυτου τον μονογενη απεσταλκεν ο θεος εις τον κοσμον ινα ζησωμεν δι αυτου (1 John 4:9)
"In this love for God was made manifest among us..." i.e. "In [what God did for us through his Son] we can see what it means to love God..."
I'm not sure about that one, maybe "In this love was made manifest" might be better here i.e. η αγαπη του θεου idiomatically might just mean η αγαπη in this instance (?) Or perhaps "In this God's love for us was made manifest..." might be better here as it seems to agree best with the context of the passage.
αυτη γαρ εστιν η αγαπη του θεου ινα τας εντολας αυτου τηρωμεν και αι εντολαι αυτου βαρειαι ουκ εισιν (1 John 5:3)
"For this is what love for God means..." or "For this is what it means to love God"
Finally there's this similar construction:
μη αγαπατε τον κοσμον μηδε τα εν τω κοσμω εαν τις αγαπα τον κοσμον ουκ εστιν η αγαπη του πατρος εν αυτω (1 John 2:15)
"If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him"
Since this is a grammatical forum I don't want to debate what it means to have God's love "in" us, I'm just asking whether "love for God" can be a possible valid translation for η αγαπη του θεου in Koine Greek.
Thanks!
Mitch Tulloch
Here are the passages and how I might translate them into English:
ος δ αν τηρη αυτου τον λογον αληθως εν τουτω η αγαπη του θεου τετελειωται εν τουτω γινωσκομεν οτι εν αυτω εσμεν (1 John 2:5)
"But whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God has been perfected..."
ος δ αν εχη τον βιον του κοσμου και θεωρη τον αδελφον αυτου χρειαν εχοντα και κλειση τα σπλαγχνα αυτου απ αυτου πως η αγαπη του θεου μενει εν αυτω (1 John 3:17)
"...how does love for God abide in him?" i.e. "..how can he say that he loves God?"
εν τουτω εφανερωθη η αγαπη του θεου εν ημιν οτι τον υιον αυτου τον μονογενη απεσταλκεν ο θεος εις τον κοσμον ινα ζησωμεν δι αυτου (1 John 4:9)
"In this love for God was made manifest among us..." i.e. "In [what God did for us through his Son] we can see what it means to love God..."
I'm not sure about that one, maybe "In this love was made manifest" might be better here i.e. η αγαπη του θεου idiomatically might just mean η αγαπη in this instance (?) Or perhaps "In this God's love for us was made manifest..." might be better here as it seems to agree best with the context of the passage.
αυτη γαρ εστιν η αγαπη του θεου ινα τας εντολας αυτου τηρωμεν και αι εντολαι αυτου βαρειαι ουκ εισιν (1 John 5:3)
"For this is what love for God means..." or "For this is what it means to love God"
Finally there's this similar construction:
μη αγαπατε τον κοσμον μηδε τα εν τω κοσμω εαν τις αγαπα τον κοσμον ουκ εστιν η αγαπη του πατρος εν αυτω (1 John 2:15)
"If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him"
Since this is a grammatical forum I don't want to debate what it means to have God's love "in" us, I'm just asking whether "love for God" can be a possible valid translation for η αγαπη του θεου in Koine Greek.
Thanks!
Mitch Tulloch