From: Steve Long (steve@allegrographics.com)
Date: Wed Oct 20 1999 - 11:14:33 EDT
><< 1Joh 3:9 (GNT) PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU QEOU hAMARTIAN OU POIEI,
>hOTI SPERMA AUTOU EN AUTWi MENEI, KAI OU DUNATAI hAMARTIAN, hOTI EK TOU
>QEOU GEGENNHTAI. 1 John 3:9 All the ones having been born from God do not
>sin habitually, because His seed is abiding in him, and he is not able to
>sin continuously, because he has been born from God. >>
>
>
>Now, let's look at the Greek text. If we had: hAMARTIAN POIEI ("he/she does
>sin"), surely it is possible to understand this as referring to habitual
>action. Now lets negate the sentence (as it appears in the Greek text):
>hAMARTIAN OU POIEI ("he/she does not sin"). Now, are we to understand this
>to mean that this person does indeed occasionally sin, but just doesn't do
>it habitually? Personally, I find such reasoning to be a real stretch.
>
Is it possible that the grammar is not the key here, but the lexicology? I
would read POIEI as a purposeful making of sin, a deliberate desire to do
something wrong. So loosely translated it would be "No one who is born of
God deliberately sets out to do the wrong thing, because God's essential
life lives in him. He has no real ability to do the wrong thing because he
is born of God." The emphasis is on the intention of the heart, rather than
habitual or occasional actions. Just my $.02.
Steve
Steve Long
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