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On Tuesday morning the pastors of Lutheran Saints in Ministry gather in Fairborn Ohio to discuss the texts for Sunday.

These are the contributions that are brought to the table.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

John 6:41-51 Greek Text Studies -- Pr. Fourman

Greek Study John 6:35; 41-51

v35 εγω ειμι "I am" – an emphatic "I myself am [the bread]" not a divine title. 
της ζωης (η) "[the bread] of life" -]. genitive is adjectival, this is a life-giving bread.
ο ερχομενος (ερχομαι) pres. part. " the one coming" - as with ο πιστευων, "the one believing", the participle serves as a substantive. Note the parallelism - "comes" and "believes" carries the same sense. 
ου μη πειναση/ (πειναω) aor. subj. "will never be hungry" - a double negative with the subjunctive here, as with "thirsty", expresses a strong negation.
  
  v41 εγογγυζον (γογγυζω) imperf. "grumble" – an allusion to the wilderness wanderings.
οι Ιουδαιοι "the Jews" - In John this term carries negative connotations; usually referring to those hostile to Jesus, often referring to the Jerusalem rabble or more specifically religious authorities in Jerusalem.
ειπεν (ειπον) aor. "he said" - In the sense of "he claimed" because he was exegeting the text, 'bread from heaven so as to claim that he was the manna that came from heaven."

v42 ελεγον (λεγω) imperf. "they said" - the imperfect may be durative, "they kept saying"or iterative; "they began to grumble."
ουτος pro. "this" - this man, the term is insulting. The crowd knows his family and so they know him, familiarity breeds contempt.

v43 μη γογγυζετε (γυγγυζω) pres. imp. "stop grumbling" - The durative force of the present tense with the negation μη indicates that the command is to cease an action in progress.

v44 εαν μη + subj. "unless [...... draws]" - a negated conditional clause, 3rd. class, where the condition has the possibility of coming true.
ελκυση (ελκυω) aor. subj. "draws" (drag, attract) fulfills Isaiah 54:13 quoted by Jesus in the next verse. God’s Law/Word draws/attracts those who hear. Rudolph Bultmann interpreted the 'drawing' by God as taking place when a person abandons personal judgment and 'hears/learns' allowing God to speak, but this flies in the face of the Greek which clearly indicates a coercive nature . So God ‘draws” not in the sense of an attraction of personal will as a determining act of Divine will.

v45 εν τοις προφηταις "in the prophets" – this citation is a free version of Isaiah 54:13. Why "prophets" instead of "the prophet Isaiah"? Some suggest it is from a collection of prophetic sayings others that John had forgotten the exact quote  (which is better than Jesus forgetting) – either is an intriguing possibility.
θεου (ος) gen. "[taught] by God" - [taught] of God. The genitive is ablative, expressing the source of the teaching.
ο ακουσας (ακουω) aor. part. "the one who hears" - as with μαθων, "learns", the aorist tense is gnomic, expressing no time sense. So those who hear are those who learn and then those who come. The notion of God drawing people to Jesus is supported by this quote from Isaiah and explained in the terms of God's Word acting on a person who has been drawn to that Word and so to Jesus.

v46 εωρακεν (οραω) perf. "seen" - perfect tense expressing a present state resulting from a past action.

v47 ο πιστευων (πιστευω) pres. part. "the believing one" – a substantive participle, the effect of the word s to create faith in the hearer.  The divine word has its own will the supercedes the listener’s. 
  
v48 της ζωης (η) "of life" – a genitive descriptive of bread so "The bread which gives life".

v49 οι πατερες υμων "your forefathers" - the "your" is interesting because you would assume they were Jesus' forefathers as well! Brown suggests that this reflects the gap between the church and synagogue at the time of the gospel, but Jesus may be using "your" to distance himself from his opponents.
εφαγον (εσθιω) aor. "ate" aorist - where the action is viewed as a whole, ie. they ate for 40 years.

v50 ουτος pro. "but here [is the bread]" - cf. Ex.16:15- pronoun serves to distinguish the bread of heaven from the bread in v49. Literally in English the distinction is not clear.
Ο καταβαινων (καταβαινω) pres. part. "that comes down" - adjectival, forming a relative clause so "the bread I am referring to is the bread which comes down…."

v51 εγω ειμι "I am" here it is the divine appellative.
ο ζων (ζαω) pres. part. "living [bread]" - participle is adjectival so "the bread which gives life."
καταβας (καταβαινω) aor. part. "that came down" - adjectival, the  change in tense from the present in v 50 to the aorist ushers in the fresh thoughts of this verse and indicates that the verse may introduce a new paragraph.
εαν τις + subj. "anyone " – a relative conditional clause, 3rd. class, where the condition has the possibility of becoming a reality.
εις τον αιωνα "[he will live] forever" – a common phrase for "forever", possibly referring to Ezekiel 47:1-12.
και ο αρτος δε ...... η σαρξ μου εστιν "this bread is my flesh [which I will give]" The δε (but) serves to introduce a new idea. Up till this point Jesus' "bread of life" and "living bread" terminology is understood as symbolic. Jesus is the source of divine truth so those who believe in him possess eternal life. Now Jesus cranks up the imagery introducing a sacrificial element to his life, the giving up of his flesh on a cross.

ον εγω δωσω "which I give" - another fresh thought - instead of the Father giving the bread Jesus gives the bread in the Father’s place.  This is theologically the same action as manna in the wilderness, and to the same effect, the salvation of the people.

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