From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 18 1999 - 10:34:23 EST
At 7:57 AM -0500 12/18/99, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 05:19 PM 12/17/99 +0000, Dmitriy Reznik wrote:
>>Dear friends,
>>
>>Will you please help me with 2John 7? hOTI POLLOI PLANOI EISELQON EIS TON
>>KOSMON hOI MH hOMOLOGOUNTES IHSOUN CRISTON ERCOMENON EN SARKI...
>>( because many leading astray did enter into the world, who are not
>>confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh...
>>Does this "coming in flesh" refers to the future (He is now coming, so He
>>is going to arrive)? Does it mean that some false teachers used to teach
>>that the second coming will be not in flesh?
>
>ERCOMENON is a present middle participle. The phrase ERCOMENON EN SARKI
>have an effect a lot like the English phrase "come in the flesh"
I don't think the question is that easily resolved; I would sooner
translate it "coming in the flesh." The problem is that the participle is a
PRESENT participle rather than an aorist or perfect participle (ELQONTA or
ELHLUQOTA), inasmuch as one would suppose it is referring to the earthly
ministry of Jesus. It if IS referring to the earthly ministry of Jesus,
then I think we would expect the aorist or perfect participle of an event
in the past or an event completed. So I'd convert the present text of 2
John 7 as "For many have come into the world who do not confess that Jesus
Christ comes in flesh."
>Suppose we leave off the words ERCOMENON EN SARKI - the rest of the phrase,
>hOI MH hOMOLOGOUNTES IHSOUN CRISTON, means "those not confessing Jesus
>Christ". Adding back the phrase ERCOMENON EN SARKI, it means basically
>"those not confessing Jesus Christ come in the flesh." There is no
>reference to a future event. The reference is to the ongoing nature of
>Jesus as one come in the flesh, and not only in the spirit. I think it
>would be perfectly possible to confess Jesus Christ ERCOMENON EN SARKI
>without believing in his future coming. The admonition in this verse is
>probably aimed at a different group of people, those who do not believe
>that Jesus was born physically, i.e. those who denied the incarnation.
The problem is that IHSOUN CRISTON ERCOMENON EN SARKI ought, I think, to be
understood as a participial indirect statement = hOTI IHSOUS CRISTOS
ERCETAI EN SARKI, and the present tense would make sense ordinarily, I
think, of a coming in process as the author writes or of a coming in the
future. I'm frankly surprised that there isn't any textual variant (that I
can see in the apparatus in either UBS4 or NA27) with an aorist or perfect
participle in place of ERCOMENON. I think it's the tense of the participle
ERCOMENON that is the real problem Dmitry raises. And it seems problematic
to me also.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
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