John 1:1 EN ARQH

From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Mon Mar 16 1998 - 10:54:21 EST


List Members ~

This opening to the Book of John has been on my 'back burner' for a
long time now. Our English 'In the beginning...' carries a vastness
of feeling in connotation that can, I believe, be very directly
attributed to to the KJV translation of EN ARQH, and perhaps as a
consequence I have been very hesitant to hurry past it in
understanding its meaning. Every so often, I see new aspects that had
not occurred to me before, and now is one of those times.

Three things stand out here ~

1 ~ ARQH is feminine

2 ~ ARQH has no article

3 ~ The obvious relationship of this passage to Genesis 1.

It would seem that by ARQH being in the feminine, without an article,
it has an encompassing quality ~ "...And the earth was without form
and void...", which then gives EN the meaning of "Within" [as 'within'
the anarthous feminine encompassment].

Has anyone explored this approach?

George Blaisdell



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