Gryllus Maior
Active member
I was going to post this as a response in a different thread, but they tend to get lost in the myriad of posts, so here:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
There are a number of different ways John could have written this statement and expressed a similar thought, such as:
ἐν ἀρχῂ ἦν ὁ λόγος ὅς τε πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θέος ἦν or ἐν ἀρχῇ ὁ λόγος θεός ὑπάρχων πρὸς τὸν θεόν ἦν...
But instead we get three short independent clauses connected by καί. Now, are these just simple connectors? Parataxis is a long standing explanation of the text. Roger is trying to come up with something clever as he mines his grammars for information. If anything, I would see this rhetorically, as a tricolon crescens. The writer starts with bear statement of the Word's existence in the beginning, then builds on that with added information that the Word was with God, and climaxes it with the the otherwise unqualified statement that the Word was God. This is a very powerful way of raising the questions in the reader's mind that John wants to answer as he develops his themes throughout his gospel.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
There are a number of different ways John could have written this statement and expressed a similar thought, such as:
ἐν ἀρχῂ ἦν ὁ λόγος ὅς τε πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θέος ἦν or ἐν ἀρχῇ ὁ λόγος θεός ὑπάρχων πρὸς τὸν θεόν ἦν...
But instead we get three short independent clauses connected by καί. Now, are these just simple connectors? Parataxis is a long standing explanation of the text. Roger is trying to come up with something clever as he mines his grammars for information. If anything, I would see this rhetorically, as a tricolon crescens. The writer starts with bear statement of the Word's existence in the beginning, then builds on that with added information that the Word was with God, and climaxes it with the the otherwise unqualified statement that the Word was God. This is a very powerful way of raising the questions in the reader's mind that John wants to answer as he develops his themes throughout his gospel.