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Re: Jn. 1:1



On Wed, 30 Nov 1994, Carl W Conrad wrote:

> Greg, and others too, perhaps, has already suggested that the phrasing of 
> 1.18," ho wn eis ton tou patros kolpon" is itself mighty peculiar and 
> perhaps deserves a thread of its own. It appears to me (without having 
> done any of the necessary spade work at all--and it wouldn't surprise me 
> if there's a thesis somewhere on this topic) that the Johannine usage of 
> prepositions is itself a topic deserving of study independent of other NT 
> texts. It may also be, of course, that the prologue's usage is unique in 
> the Johannine text overall in this regard.
> 
Although there is no verb of "speaking" as David Moore pointed out, there 
is the _logos_ for talk.  I do worry about the paucity of examples, but 
then I don't have an efficient reference source.

Citations for pros + accusative to mean "with [person in a place with 
someone else]" that I could find also seemed to be off base: Matt. 3:10, 
Mar. 5:22, 6:45, 11:4, Luke 24:29.  None of these fit the bill: are these 
the best examples of pros + accusative = "with" in the NT?  Or is the 
usual translation "with" based on extra-Biblical usage?

The accusative is unsettling in the entire chapter: does the word come 
back to God?  _ On Eis ton kolpon_ (v. 18) - my abridged L&S says: "in 
pregnant usage, joined with verbs which express rest, when a previous 
motion is implied, as, ... pareinai eis topon, to go to and be at a 
place."  So again, it would be the son coming to the father, in an 
introduction in which one would expect the son to be coming from the 
father, not going back to him.

Greg Jordan
jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu
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