From: Mike MacKinnon (charis@globalserve.net)
Date: Thu Apr 24 1997 - 12:09:48 EDT
Dear Friends,
Thank-you all for your quick responses to my queries. This place is like a
gold mine for a guy like me!!!
At any rate, I have a question about the translation of the verse mentioned
in the "Subject" above. Consider the Greek:
1JN 5:14 kai haut‘ estin h‘ parr‘sia h‘n echomen pros auton, hoti ean ti
aitšmetha kata to thel‘ma autou akouei h‘mšn.
1JN 5:15 kai ean oidamen hoti akouei h‘mšn ho ean aitšmetha, oidamen hoti
echomen ta ait‘mata ha ‘t‘kamen ap' autou.
My question is regarding my understanding of the implied meaning of these
verses. I have to preach a sermon on answered prayer, and I would like to
know if my translation has merit:
1 Jn. 5:14 "and this is the boldness which we have towards Him, that if we
should ask [for] anything according to His will, He hears us."
>>> Now my first question concerns a theological understanding of "He hears
us." "akouei" is, of course, first person, singular, present, indicative
active. My feeling is that this verse is suggesting that He hears us
immediately/now, and continues to hear us. I am thinking this because of
the present, indicative active t, m, v.
1 Jn. 5:15 "and if we know that he hears our requests, we know that we have
the requests that we have made of him."
>>> Again, I focus on the present, indicative active of all the verbs
here, especially the "oidamen hoti echomen," suggesting to me that the
writer of 1 John felt that requests made to God "according to His will"
receive immediate answers, for "we know that we have (present, indic.,
act.) the requests made of Him."
Am I going out on a limb to say that this is what the writer of 1 John was
suggesting? Or does my understanding of these verses have merit? Please
comment; I humbly await...
In Christ,
Mike MacKinnon
charis@globalserve.net
M.Div. cand.
McMaster Divinity College
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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