Okay, here's a suggestion that follows a pretty traditional pattern,
indicating only the syntactical relationships between the elements in the
verse:
hO GEGENNHMENOS
\ |\
\PAS | \EK TOU QEOU
| | POIEI | hAMARTIAN
------------------------|----------------------
| |\OU
| |
| hOTI
| \
| TO SPERMA | MENEI
| --------\------|---\-----
| \ \
| AUTOU EN AUTWi
| [TOU QEOU] [TWi GEGENNHMENWi]
KAI [EK TOU QEOU]
| DUNATAI hAMARTANEIN
|--------------------------
| \OU
|
hOTI
\
[AUTOS] | GEGENNHTAI
------------|------------
| \EK TOU QEOU
This is pretty crude, but I think it shows linkages and clarifies implicit
elements; it also neatly indicates the parallelism of the clauses.
>(2) In that regard, I would like recommendations as to literature on
>Diagramming the GNT. I only have Richard P. Belcher; if that's enough,
>then just confirm it for me.
I don't know of any such work, but there probably is one somewhere.
>(3) If any out-there has done work on the text, whether the sin mentioned
>is sin in general, or whether is the sin of apostasy, or the sin of not
>loving the brethren, I would appreciate any input you may have.
I think there is an almost simplistic logic in the arguments here, akin to,
although hardly derived from, the Socratic proposition that all wrongdoing
arises out of the agent's ignorance of what is in his/her own best interest
and the agent will never knowingly or deliberately violate what is in
his/her own best interest. I think the sin is generic and absolute. Sin is
understood as a consequence of being out-of-touch with God, and to the
extent that one is in-touch with God, or "abides" in Him, one does not sin;
inversely, one sins to the extent that one is out-of-touch with God ("His
seed does not abide in him."). The efficacy of the "vision" of Christ
crucified/exalted/glorified/raised is to "remove sin" and regenerate the
believer so that now he/she is in-touch with God ("abides").
I've always thought that the clearest of all expositions of Johannine
"anthropology" is in Rudolf Bultmann's _Theology of the New Testament_.
I shall be out of touch with the list for the next few days myself as I
leave today to spend the week with my daughter's family in Tucson and won't
be accessing my mail account. So I'll sign off here with wishes for a
blessed Christmas to all list members.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/