[b-greek] Re: genitive 1Jn 1:1

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Mar 23 2002 - 19:33:57 EST


Were you not around when we so recently discussed this, February 16-17? Of
course it may be that this is part of what doesn't show up in the recent
archives and hasn't yet been added to the larger archives. There were five
messages with subject-header, "Genitive chain in 1 John 1:1."


At 5:10 PM -0500 3/23/02, richard smith wrote:
>One of the real benefits for me of studying NT Greek is that some of the
>phrases which had always seemed to me to be so abstract in the English as
>to have no real significance, now offer the promise of being understood by
>me in meaningful terms.
>
>This is especially true of genitive constructions.
>
>1 Jn 1:1 hO EQEASAMEQA KAI hAI CEIRES hHMWN EYHLAFHSAN PERI TOU LOGOU THS
>ZWHS
>
>The translations all seem to give a generic "word (Word) of life"
>translation, but how is this construction to be understood?
>
>Some possibilities seem to me to be attributive - "living word" ;
>apposition - "the word which is life" ; genitive of product- "word which
>produces life" ; genitive of content - "word that is about life."
>
>How should we understand AP' ARCHS? From the beginning as in John 1 or
>from the beginning of the ministry?
>
>Does TOU LOGOU refer to Jesus or to a report about eternal life?
>
>The question comes to me because of the shift in verse 1 from "what we
>have heard and seen concerning the word of life" to, in verse 2, "the
>eternal life which has been manifested and we have seen and we witness and
>declare." This shift moves the focus from the word to the life.
>
>This eternal life is described as being with the Father, in terms that are
>reminiscent of Christ as the Divine Logos, QEOS HN hO LOGOS. These terms
>seem to personalize the concept of eternal life, which I tend to
>understand more as a gift of a state rather than as a tangible person who
>has existed with the Father.
>
>Then, is it that we should understand TOU LOGOU and THS ZWHS in verse one
>as being in apposition?
>
>"what we looked on and our hands touched concerning the word, which is
>life. And this life has been manifested...We have seen and we witness and
>declare to you this life, which is eternal, and which was with the Father
>and manifested to us."
>
>I have been rambling, but it is difficult to express my question. The two
>verses seem to combine to make eternal life as that which was with the
>Father from the beginning and which has been manifested. Eternal life is
>personified and is the focus, rather that the word.
>
>This might make the genitive construction fit a nominal genitive of
>content useage, but would de-emphasize the LOGOS as being descriptive of
>Christ, leaving the word as being the means of reporting about the Eternal
>Life. And the function of personifying Christ here being taken up by hH
>ZWH (hN AIWNIOS).
>
>"what we have looked upon and our hands have touched concerning the word
>that teaches about life. And this life has been manifested, and we have
>seen and we witness and proclaim to you this life which is eternal, which
>has been with the Father."
>
>If this is so, have I been reading 1 John with John 1 too much in mind?
>
>Peace,
>
>Richard Smith
>Chattanooga, TN
>
>---
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--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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