Re: John 1:1a - in *the* beginning

Wes Williams (weswilliams@usa.net)
Tue, 28 Oct 1997 08:38:33 -0700

> From: Peter Phillips <p.m.phillips@cliff.shef.ac.uk>
>
> However, within John 1:1-5 - a study of the use of EINAI and GINESQAI
would
> seem to suggest that EINAI is used to refer to pre-creation while
GINESQAI
> is used of post-creation activity. Therefore "the beginning" here is
> actually referring to what was before anything else was. I wonder
whether
> this points to the reason for the anarthrous use of the word - what was
> before anything was created? How can you talk of the beginning because
> this would suggest that there was something there beforehand. Therefore
> John uses the anarthrous ARXH to suggest a time before creation.
>
> I am aware that all this has been raised recently on the list and hope i
> haven;t opened up the same discussion all over again.
>

Peter,

The presupposition that "'the beginning' is referring to what was before
anything else was" was answered extensively in our last thread. Refer to
the posts from Greg Stafford and Rolf Furuli.

Sincerely,
Wes Williams