1 John 3.17 and 4.3
Posted: March 2nd, 2023, 1:51 pm
Hi again,
I've run into another couple of verses that I'm confused by. First is 3.17:
ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου καὶ θεωρῇ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ χρείαν ἔχοντα καὶ κλείσῃ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτοῦ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, πῶς ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐν αὐτῷ;
I can't figure out what the subject of ἐχω is. It seems from the overall sense as though the things which are had are the brother's needs, but in that case why is it χρειαν rather than χρειαι? I guess the needs are the object of θεωρεω as well as the subject of ἐχω, but in that case why isn't there a relative pronoun allowing them to be both? And I think I'd still be confused about whether need is plural or singular, which makes me wonder if something else altogether is the subject of ἐχω. I may just be tying myself in knots here - can anyone help?
The second one is probably more straightforwardly a rule that I don't know about yet, but looking at 4.3:
καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη.
That μη (rather than ουχ) seems to suggest that confess is a 2nd person imperative rather than a 3rd person indicative, but then the sentence makes no sense, and the biblehub interlinear is showing it as indicative (https://biblehub.com/text/1_john/4-3.htm). I was aware that μη could be used with the indicative for questions where the answer was expected to be no, but are there other constructions where I should be looking out for it?
Thanks,
Sebastian
I've run into another couple of verses that I'm confused by. First is 3.17:
ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου καὶ θεωρῇ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ χρείαν ἔχοντα καὶ κλείσῃ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτοῦ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, πῶς ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐν αὐτῷ;
I can't figure out what the subject of ἐχω is. It seems from the overall sense as though the things which are had are the brother's needs, but in that case why is it χρειαν rather than χρειαι? I guess the needs are the object of θεωρεω as well as the subject of ἐχω, but in that case why isn't there a relative pronoun allowing them to be both? And I think I'd still be confused about whether need is plural or singular, which makes me wonder if something else altogether is the subject of ἐχω. I may just be tying myself in knots here - can anyone help?
The second one is probably more straightforwardly a rule that I don't know about yet, but looking at 4.3:
καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη.
That μη (rather than ουχ) seems to suggest that confess is a 2nd person imperative rather than a 3rd person indicative, but then the sentence makes no sense, and the biblehub interlinear is showing it as indicative (https://biblehub.com/text/1_john/4-3.htm). I was aware that μη could be used with the indicative for questions where the answer was expected to be no, but are there other constructions where I should be looking out for it?
Thanks,
Sebastian