2 John 1 ἐγώ

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

2 John 1 ἐγώ

Post by Stephen Carlson »

What is the function of ἐγώ in 2 John 1?
2 John 1 wrote:Ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῆς, οὓς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν,
Is there some implied contrast with someone who does not love the elect lady and her children in truth?
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: 2 John 1 ἐγώ

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Isn't it just setting up for the contrast that follows?
2 John 1 wrote:οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
cwconrad
Posts: 2112
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:52 pm
Location: Burnsville, NC 28714
Contact:

Re: 2 John 1 ἐγώ

Post by cwconrad »

Stephen Hughes wrote:Isn't it just setting up for the contrast that follows?
2 John 1 wrote:οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν
Assuming (shouldn't I assume it?) that the ἐκλεκτὴ κύρια is ἡ ἐκκλησία and that her children are the believers, I would suppose that an antitheseis is being prepared between those "who know the truth" and those πλάνοι of vs. 7 who have left the church and gone out into the world. This is the same contrast that is frequently highlighted in 1 John between those who continue to love their brothers and those who have left the community and who are "liars who hate their brothers."
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: 2 John 1 ἐγώ

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Thanks for your comments. So it looks like our author is being argumentative right from the get-go?
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
cwconrad
Posts: 2112
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:52 pm
Location: Burnsville, NC 28714
Contact:

Re: 2 John 1 ἐγώ

Post by cwconrad »

Stephen, are you familiar with Raymond Brown's 1978 book, The Community of the Beloved Disciple? It's speculative, to be sure, but he argues that the Johannine community developed separately from the apostolic church but merged with it toward the end of the first century, at which point the Johannine community suffered a schism in which a "Gnostic-like" majority group walked out "into the world". Brown's proposition is that the Johannine epistles are intended to point the right understanding of the Johannine gospel and to warn against the schismatic group, the second and third letters focusing more on those in the schismatic group. That, at least, is my recollection of it, but something like that must be involved in these letters.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Post Reply

Return to “New Testament”