From: dixonps@juno.com
Date: Sat Oct 16 1999 - 00:33:41 EDT
On Fri, 15 Oct 1999 23:3:40 "Mike Piles" <irontone@yahoo.com> writes:
> In 1 John 4:7b KAI PAS hO AGAPWN EK TOU QEOU GEGENNHTAI KAI GINWSKI
> TON QHEON. Could one say that PAS hO AGAPWN is consequential to EK TOU
> QEOU GEGENNHTAI, because AGAPWN is in the present tense and GEGENNHTAI
is
> in the perfect tense?
Yes, this is another test by which the believers may know they have
eternal life (the purpose of the book, as per 5:13). In line with this,
the present tense in the book denotes habitual/characteristic behavior.
The summary test is walking in the light versus walking in the darkness
(1:6-7), amplified in habitual: confession of sins versus denial
(1:8-10),
obedience versus disobedience (2:3), righteousness versus
unrighteousness (3:7-10), love versus hatred (chap 4), belief in the
Son versus disbelief (5:1ff), etc.
An immediate parallel to 4:7b is 5:1 where the present tense PISTEUWN
is followed by the perfect GEGENNHTAI. In both cases the present
tenses denote habitual behavior as an indication or consequence
of having been born of God with continuing results to the present as
evidenced by the present tense verbs.
Another parallel is 3:9.
Paul Dixon
.
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