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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.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A Greek Study on John 13

John 13:31-35

31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

v31 οτε "when" – a temporal conjunction introducing a temporal clause; "after Judas had gone".
νυν adv. "now" - adverb expressing a point of simultaneous time.
εδοξασθη (δοξαζω) aor. pas. "is [the Son of Man] glorified" - unusual aorist passive is often translated as an English perfect passive, but Christ's glorification, for John, is the cross, so the aorist is probably proleptic, i.e. future referring.

v32 ει ο θεος εδοξοσθη εν αυτω "if God is glorified in him" - a conditional clause 1st class, not found in some manuscripts so may be an addition. None-the-less, it carries John's argument forward. It is easier to explain why it may have been lost than why it would have been added.
δοξασει (δοξαζω) fut. act. "will glorify" - aorist refers to the revelation of Christ's character, along with that of the Father's, realized in Christ's act of obedience on the cross. 
εν αυτω "in himself" The variant αυτω, when accentuated, forms the reflective pronoun “himself" expressing a local relational sense where Christ is restored to "the glory he had before the world was made", 17:5. There are other possible translations: The "in" could be instrumental, "God will glorify the Son by his own hand", although in the New Testament a spacial sense is more likely. If the more common reading is accepted, it is possible that "in him" means "in Christ"; "God will glorify him in his own person.
ευθυς adv. "at once" - immediately. 

v33 τεκνια (ον) "my little children" A hapax in John but used seven times in First John. While it is not unusual for a teacher to address his disciples as children; the description is found mostly in the synoptics as an expression of endearment.
ετι μικρον "only a little longer" – Jesus used this term earlier in his ministry not to refer to the shortness of time as such, but is more apocalyptic; "the end is near."
καθως adv. "just as [I told]" – a comparative.
τοις Ιουδαιοις dat. adj. "the Jews
οπου "where" - Locative; υπαγω "[I] am going" – a verb used of Jesus departure, in the sense of his death, resurrection and ascension.
ελθειν (ερχομαι) aor. inf. "[you cannot] come" – a complementary infinitive- one might rightly add "yet".

v34 καινην adj. "new" - what is new about it? It is "new" in the sense of being restated new. 
εντολην (η) "commandment" – a word used 6 times in this discourse and 18 times in John's letters. The word "Maundy" for Maundy Thursday, comes from the Latin for commandment, "mandatum", as of "a new commandment I give you."
υμιν dat. pro. "[I give] you" - indirect object.
αγαπατε (αγαπαω) pres. subj. "love" have a godly compassion - the present tense expresses the durative; so keep on loving. The word defines the relationship that should exist between believers. "Compassion" comes closest to its meaning. In a church situation it may distill down to "acceptance", particularly acceptance of a "sinner".
αλληλους pro. "one another" - A reciprocal reference to members of the fellowship.
καθως adv. "as [I have loved you]" - in accord with. Jesus this refers to his self-giving in death, the act which best exegetes the meaning of agape love.

v35 en + dat. "by [this]" - instrumental/means; "by means of this." 
παντες adj. "all" -  everyone γνωσονται (γινωσκω) fut. "will know" οτι "that

εχητε (εχω) pres. subj. "you love" - subjunctive mood is driven by the grammar and is not deliberative. "Here it is best understood in the sense of possessing a mutual love.

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