Re: Contradictions in 1 John?

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Tue, 16 Sep 1997 18:36:58 -0400

At 03:31 PM 9/16/97 -0400, James H. Vellenga wrote:

>This is one part of your argument that I don't follow.
>Isn't the infinitive hAMARTEIN a present infinitive?
>If so, one could interpret it either as persistence
>or custom/habit, and translate it as
>
> "he isn't able to keep sinning"

but, you imply, might sin occasionally...

>or
>
> "he isn't able to sin as a customary thing"

but, you imply, slips up on odd weekends...

>In either case, it doesn't necessarily imply that he is
>free from sinning.

Well, this is a real Greek question. Can the present tense for this
infinitive be construed to mean that? My assumption has been that it cannot.
I'll have to look into this - or maybe someone will save me the work with an
authoritative answer!

>Apparently both Paul Dixon and Carl Conrad
>(and maybe Jonathan) believe they both have to be one or the
>other. I may have missed something over the week-end
>(I got bounced from the mailing list because of a net failure
>at our end), but why is it they can't differ in this respect?

I see no reason that they couldn't, but have not yet been convinced that
they do.

Jonathan

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