Re: Question on John 17:3

From: Daniel L Christiansen (dlc@multnomah.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 28 1999 - 13:47:29 EST


Dan Parker wrote [snipped]:
>
> I have to admit that the whole GS sharp business
> confuses me somewhat. There seem to be so many "side-rules" associated
> with it.

        Unfortunately, Sharp attempted to "prove" too much with his rules (the
rule we are discussing, here, is his first . . . there are six related
rules discussed in his "Remarks.") And the parameters of even this
first rule are not clearly laid out in a single paragraph. So, don't
feel discouraged if you have trouble grasping GS: even major published
grammars have mis-stated and mis-applied it. Of course, the major
trouble with most students' (mis)understanding of Granville Sharp, is
that they don't actually read it: they are content to read someone
else's synopsis of Sharp. I could understand this attitude, if we were
talking about Denniston on Particles ($70 doorstop), but Sharp's entire
article is only 72 half-size pages, including the examples and index.
        Sharp's desire to demonstrate Christ's deity on purely grammatical
grounds was unfortunate. This desire caused him to narrow down the
applicability of his rules to a handful of passages, laying so many
limitations on the construction that, IMO, it becomes almost useless.
Much better to remove all the limitations as to personality, propriety,
and plurality, and describe what the article-substantive-KAI-substantive
then represents: a contextually-determined unity of expression. To
describe this unity, I prefer the phrase "a certain intimate relation."
        However, since we are actually discussing GS proper . . . I think there
may be some confusion with regard to the construction of the two
passages mentioned: John 17:3 and Titus 2:13. Sharp did, indeed, apply
his rules to the Titus passage, but not to the Gospel verse.

Jay Adkins wrote [snipped]:
> The GS rule is not used in John 17:3 mainly do I think to the use of a
> proper name, "Jesus."

To which Dan Parker responded:
> However, it seems to me that Titus 2:13 has the same limitation as
> John 17:3 with respects to the position of the proper name IHSOUS
> XRISTOS.

        Actually, the presence of a proper name is not the issue in either of
these verses, since in neither instance is that proper name immediately
following the KAI. In each instance, the name stands in apposition to
another phrase, which phrase immediately follows the KAI. In Titus
2:13, the word in question is SWTHROS, while in John 17:3, it is hON.
SWTHROS qualifies under GS1, while hON is questionable. The problem
with hON, is that Sharp never addresses the issue of pronouns, though he
appears to exclude them by non-mention. An application of Bishop
Middleton's discussion regarding pronouns would seem to clinch the
argument: hON is as specific as an article, and therefore does not
qualify under GS1.
        So, Titus 2:13 would result in QEOS=SWTHROS, where both are apposed by
IHSOUS. John 17:3 would result in QEOS + hON APESTEILAS, where only the
latter is apposed by IHSOUS. Of course, there is a more difficult
problem, here, since the first substantival element in the supposed GS
construction of Titus 2:13 is QEOS. It is not clear whether QEOS should
be taken as a title (in which case it would qualify under GS1) or as a
name (in which case it would not qualify).
        As I mentioned earlier, I believe that a more general approach is
fruitful, rather than the over-burdened method laid out by Sharp. If
anyone is really interested, I can send a short article (only about
2,000 words) which I prepared for my students. It lays out the method I
prefer, and its results when applied to various passages.

Dan

-- 
Daniel L. Christiansen
Department of Bible
Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street
Portland, OR  97220
(Also Portland Bible College, Prof of Biblical Languages)
e-mail: dlc@multnomah.edu

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