> Re: the scientific method, etc. One of the things that helps in exegesis is
> taking a longer look - broader context than just a single passage. For
> example, Randy (I think!) says that AGAPE is the preferred term for God's
> own love throughout the NT, and that certainly is true. But AGAPE is also
> the preferred term for just about any sort of affection.
Another observation to better assess the possible intention of the use
of synonyms in John is to look at other possible usages of two synonyms.
I think it actually happens in John 21 for the word "fish". John uses two
different Greek words to identify two "classes" of fish: the big ones that
were caught and the ones they can eat wich seems smaller and actually dead.
It's difficult to assess the "closeness" of synonymie between these two
compare to AGAPE and FILEO but I think we can call them synonyms and apply
the same intention: show a difference in meaning according to a few
characteristics. Otherwise, in the case of "fish", why switch between
two different Greek words ? Stylistic variety ? Doubtful.
Mario Latendresse
-----------------
Laboratoire de paralllisme informatique| Computer parallelism laboratory
Universit de Montral (Canada)
email:latendre@iro.umontreal.ca, http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~latendre