From: Steven R. Lo Vullo (doulos@chorus.net)
Date: Sun Dec 03 2000 - 22:52:29 EST
On 12/3/00 7:07 PM, RHutchin@aol.com wrote:
> Recently, I was presented with the following argument. The person cited A
> Primer of Biblical Greek by N. Clayton Croy (Eerdmans, 1999) as stating,
> "Biblical Greek, like English, had a 'near' demonstrative, hOUTOS, for
> something relatively close in time, space or thought, and a 'far'
> demonstrative, EKEINOS, for something relatively distant."
>
> Based on this, the person argues that Jesus, by using the 'near'
> demonstrative, hOUTOS, in Matt 24:34 could only have been referring to those
> to whom he was physically speaking. Had Jesus wanted to refer to a future
> generation, he would have had to use the word EKEINOS.
Roger,
Even though I personally think hH GENEA hAUTH refers to the generation alive
in Jesus' own day (without confining all the events of Mt 24 *to* Jesus'
day), the demonstrative pronoun has nothing to do with the issue. Note that
the above quote specifically mentions "thought" along with "space" and
"time." The near demonstrative doesn't necessarily mean anything more than
something close in thought. In the case of Mt 24.34 it need mean no more
than "this (which I have been talking about)." If the events associated with
the generation Jesus has in mind are relatively close in time, then the
generation is also close in time. If the events associated with the
generation Jesus has in mind are relatively distant in time, then the
generation is also distant in time. The real question is how many of the
events of Mt 24 are associated with hH GENEA hAUTH. That, of course, goes
beyond the legitimate boundaries of our discussions on the B-Greek list.
Steve
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