the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

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Peter Streitenberger
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the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Dear friends,

in John 20,23 it states Ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται αὐτοῖς· ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται.
(RP 2005). New King James has it this way: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

I'm not sure if the particle Ἄν is equally to "if", at the first glance I can't find a paralell in John's writings, or am I missing something? Can't there be other solutions? E,g, "Whose sins you forgive....", and Ἄν as a generalizer (eg. in the sense of: the sins of whatever person you may think of). An additional question: Why is τινων forfronted twice? Questions over questions, maybe you can help. What would be the best translation or rendering?
Yours
Peter
Stephen Carlson
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Re: the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Ἄν here is not the particle but a popular form of ἐάν, "if." In fact, ἄν (or αν) is the modern Greek word for 'if." (I suppose that ἐάν = εἰ + ἄν etymologically).

Τινων is in second position because it is enclitic and (certain) enclitic particles are attracted to the second position. This is known as Wackernagel's Law, which when properly understood has a number of qualifications for what the second position is. Lacking an accent, τινων isn't emphatic and should not thought of as "fronted" as if its position early in the clause was for the same reason that accented words are fronted for emphasis.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Peter Streitenberger
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Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:45 am

Re: the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Thank you, Stephen, your explanation of TINWN is prosodic. If you try to give an syntactical idea, could it be stressed? Yes, the "if" explanation is shown by the NKJ rendering, but I coulnd't find a further example at John's writing so I tried to explain AN as generalisation particle. Together with the fronted TINWN, maybe this idea would be discussed: The sins of whatever person you might think of - if you forgive these people their sins, theirs sins are forgiven then. Or does that not make sense? Thanks for your help.
Peter
Stephen Carlson
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Re: the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Stephen Carlson »

I don't have my real lexicographical resources at the moment, but here's the entry from the 19th century Robinson, Duncan and Negris, Lexicon of the New Testament (New Edition) (1838), which should only know the New Testament text in the form of the Textus Receptus. (I have a vague recollection that this ἄν may show up in more places in the Nestle-Aland text, esp. of John.)
Image
If τινων were to be stressed, it should generally move to the initial position, not the second position. Since it would conflict with the interrogative, I would expect some form of ὂς ἄν to be used for what you're looking for.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Stephen Carlson
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Re: the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Stephen Carlson »

According to BDAG, this clause initial ἄν is found in John 13:20, 16:23, and 20:23, and as a variant reading in 5:19, 9:22, 12:32, 19:12 and Acts 9:2. It is also found in Ignatius, Magnesians 10:1.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Peter Streitenberger
Posts: 224
Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:45 am

Re: the function of Ἄν in John 20,23

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Stephen Carlson wrote:According to BDAG, this clause initial ἄν is found in John 13:20, 16:23, and 20:23, and as a variant reading in 5:19, 9:22, 12:32, 19:12 and Acts 9:2. It is also found in Ignatius, Magnesians 10:1.
Dear Stephen,
I'll look these passages up, thanks. I've googeled in the early Greek literature in the TLG and found some writers quoting this verse;
Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus in Catecheses ad illuminandos 1–18 (17,12.4) and Athanasius in In illud: Profecti in pagum invenietis pullum alligatum (7,8.1) and Pseudo–Caesarius in Quaestiones et responsiones (213, 131) quoted ἄν as äquivalent to ἐὰν ("if"). That would meet your argument.
Yours
Peter
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