From: Stephen Carlson (scc@reston.icl.com)
Date: Wed Aug 09 1995 - 16:18:22 EDT
Craig,
For the kind of word study you are doing on John 3:16, namely the use of
the preposition EIS with the verb PISTEUW, I recommend Bauer, Arndt,
Gingrich, and Danker's A GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND
OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. They try be exhaustive and show how
the entries are grammatically used with other parts of speech.
I'll use their entry for PISTEUW as an example, substantially abbreviating
the citations but keeping some of the references to John's Gospel. They
discriminate four broad meanings:
1. BELIEVE
a. BELIEVE (IN) SOMETHING, BE CONVINCED OF SOMETHING, with that which
one believes (in) added:
(1) in the acc[usative] of the thing. Jn11:26b.
(2) by means of a hOTI clause, BELIEVE THAT Jn8:24 11:27 13:19 etc.
(3) by acc[usative] and inf[initive] Ac8:37b; by the inf. Ac15:11;
by acc. and participle ISm3:1.
(4) by means of the dat[ive] of the thing. GIVE CREDENCE TO, BELIEVE
Jn2:22 12:38.
(5) with prepositions, EIS Rm4:18 1Jn5:10c; EN TWi EUAGGELIWi Mk1:15;
EN TOUTWi, BY THIS Jn16:30; EPI TINI Lk24:25.
b. with person to whom one GIVES CREDENCE or whom one BELIEVES, in the
dat. Mk16:14 -- Also of Jesus and God whom one BELIEVES, accepting
disclosures without doubt. Jn5:38 46b 6:30 8:45; God: Jn5:24.
c. with person and thing added, p. tini ti, BELIEVE SOMEONE WITH REGARD
TO SOMETHING, Hm6,2,6. with dat. of the person and hOTI Jn14:11a.
d. abs[olute], Jn3:12a b 10:25f 12:47tr 14:29 etc.
e. BELIEVE = LET ONESELF BE INFLUENCED kata tinos AGAINST SOMEONE Pol6:1.
f. middle voice, ENJOY CONFIDENCES Dg12:8.
2. BELIEVE (IN), TRUST, laying special emphasis in trusting someone's power.
In Christian literature, the object of the trust is God or Christ.
a. the object is given ...
(1) in the dative, God Ac16:34 Tt3:8 [this overlaps with 1b. supra].
(2) with EIS, Jn2:11 3:15 [TR Byzantine Aleph] 3:16 Mt27:42tr.
(3) with EPI + dat. Jn3:15 [P66] Rm9:33 10:11
(4) with EPI + acc. Mt27:42 Jn3:15 [A] Ac9:42
(5) with EN + dat. Jn3:15 [P75 B Nestle], perhaps Ep1:13; but both
could be absolute (see 2b. infra).
b. absolute (object implied by context) Jn1:17 50 3:15? 18b 4:14f etc.
c. HAVE CONFIDENCE that God will help Mt8:13 9:28 21:22.
3. ENTRUST tini ti SOMETHING TO SOMEONE Lk16:11 Jn2:24.
4. CONSIDER (AS POSSIBLE)? Rm14:2, cf. Jn9:18.
As this entry shows, PISTEUW EIS is not the only way to express the
concept of trusting in God. Early Christian Greek writers use other
prepositions (EPI, possibly EN) or no preposition at all (just the
dative case) to say the same thing. Moreover, the use EIS is not
restricted to this meaning [see 1a(5)]. Therefore one cannot avoid
examining the context to find the meaning.
Stephen Carlson
-- Stephen Carlson : Poetry speaks of aspirations, : ICL, Inc. scc@reston.icl.com : and songs chant the words. : 11490 Commerce Park Dr. (703) 648-3330 : Shujing 2:35 : Reston, VA 22091 USA
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