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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | 1st John 3:4-9 Discussion on sin. | 1 John 3:9 | Morant61 | 126299 | ||
Greetings TheoMinor! I wish we could post Greek letters onto the forum! :-( Allow me to just briefly make a few comments and observations on some of the pertinent verses. 1 John 3:4: There is one inaccuracy concerning this verse. 'Poiwn' is not an imperative verb. It is a Present, Active, Participle, Masc, Nominative, Singular. You are correct about the 2nd occurance of 'poiew'. It is a Present, Active, Indicative, 3rd Person, Singular verb. However, the present doesn't necessarily mean 'now'. There are cases where the present tense can be used of either past or future action. The primary emphasis of tenses in Greek is the 'kind' of action, not the 'time' of action. Thus, 'present' stresses continuous action or serial action as opposed to point in time action. 1 John 3:6: The same thing is true of 'menon'. It is not an aorist, imperative, but a present, active, participle. In fact, all of the verbs you have indentified as aorist, imperatives are actually present, active, participles. Let me get back to the context a bit later. I just got home from work and need to get to bed! :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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2 | 1st John 3:4-9 Discussion on sin. | 1 John 3:9 | Theo-Minor | 126323 | ||
Hey Tim, The other thing (and this is the crux of the problem) is that I can't wrap my mind around a present (or future) absolute negative action implying something occasionally positive. I think that's my real issue. Whether preset, future, or continuing, you still have an absolute value of the action. Actively I can see and appreciate. Those abiding in God [actively remaining and abiding now and continually] do not sin [actively perform the absolute negative of the action now and continually]. Practicing I can see, though I think it's a poor word to show what's being said. Those abiding in God [practicing (as in actively doing, not as in exercises to gain improvement like a musician would) the act of staying there now and continually] do not sin [practice (as in actively do the absolute negative of the action, not as in exercises to gain improvement of the absolute negative of the action) the absolute negative of the action]. Habitually, on the other hand, implies an occasional lapse of the substantiated action, and this is bad for two reasons. 1) It implies that we sometimes do the positive of the absolute negative, or that we do the absolute negative only "most of the time." 2) Because of the sequence of tenses, it implies that we sometimes do not abide in God, or that we just abide in Him "most of the time." Thus, Those abiding in God [make a habit of abiding in him, but occasionally absent by implication of habit] do not sin [make a habit of performing the positive action instead of doing the absolute negative of the action as the syntax requires]. Habitually makes no sense to what's actually being said. This is presumptuous in my opinion. It says what no one can guarantee is the intent of the author. Practicing is not wrong, but can be construed as habitually because of the common association of practice being a thing you do to "get better at something" versus a thing you actively do everyday. Actively carries the same implications as practicing for the same reasons. You actively do not sin, but by implication, it is something that occasionally lapses when the tense actually suggests something present, on-going, and indefinite according to what you've corrected me on (thanks, by the way). By this standard and comparison, the words habitually, actively, and practicing need to be kept out of the text, because they imply things that were neither intended nor said. If John wanted to say that we don't sin "most of the time" instead of "never at all," there's no reason he wouldn't have said, "Those abiding in God do not 'usually' sin." Waiting for follow up. :o) Theo-Minor |
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