[B-Greek] 1 John 5:3 KAI hAI ENTOLAI AUTOU BAREIAI OUK EISIN
Jonathan Robie
jwrobie at mindspring.com
Sun Mar 25 07:03:08 EDT 2007
I have a question about how the clause KAI hAI ENTOLAI AUTOU BAREIAI OUK EISIN (καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν) relates to the other clauses in the sentence. Are the following two understandings equally plausible?
1. It modifies the preceding clauses of the sentence
hAUTH GAR ESTIN hH AGAPH TOU QEOU,
hINA TAS ENTOLAS AUTOU THRWMEN
KAI hAI ENTOLAI AUTOU BAREIAI OUK EISIN,
(αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ,
ἵνα τὰσ ἐντολὰσ αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν
καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν,)
Understood this way, I think the point would be that it's not just keeping his commandments, but keeping them out of the kind of love that turns this obedience into something that is not burdensome, in the same way that doing something for my daughters or my girlfriend is not burdensome, even if it is work, because it is done out of love.
2. It starts a new thought
KAI hAI ENTOLAI AUTOU BAREIAI OUK EISIN,
hOTI PAN TO GEGENNHMENON EK TOU QEOU
NIKAi TON KOSMON
KAI hAUTH ESTIN hH NIKH
hH NIKHSASA TON KOSMON,
hH PISTIS hHMWN.
(καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν,
ὅτι πᾶν τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον
καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη
ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον,
ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν.)
Understood this way, I think it would say that the reason his commandments are not burdensome is that our faith, which overcomes the world, also keeps the commandments from being burdensome because the burden is caused by our struggle with the world, and we will be victorious in that struggle.
Of course, this all applies with the first interpretation as well. So the real question is whether the first interpretation is a valid way to interpret the relationships among the clauses.
Thoughts?
Jonathan
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