1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Dan commented (link): "The Greek for the end of 1 John 2:19, which is often cited for perseverance, is less clear than I though. The difference between the KJV (that they were not all of us) and ESV (they all are not of us). The KJV leaves open that some, but not all were of us, but the ESV doesn't."
Setting (for the moment) to the side the wording of the KJV, the underlying Greek of 1 John 2:19 is this:
(TR per BLB) ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν· εἰ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν· ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα φανερωθῶσιν ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες ἐξ ἡμῶν
(NA28) ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθαν ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν, εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἦσαν, μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθ’ ἡμῶν – ἀλλ’ ἵνα φανερωθῶσιν ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες ἐξ ἡμῶν.
The only difference between the TR and the NA28 is a word order issue (I've added underline to show it) that I don't think meaningfully affects translation in this discussion, and punctuation, which no one claims is original and has a similar effect in any case.
The flow of the verse is this:
(a) ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθον they went out from us
(b) ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν but they were not of us
(c) εἰ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν (or εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἦσαν) for if they had been of us
(d) μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθ’ ἡμῶν then they would have continued with us
(e) ἀλλ’ ἵνα φανερωθῶσιν but that it might be manifested
(f) ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες ἐξ ἡμῶν that they were not all of us
Notice that John's argument refers to a group of folks who went out from us, but were not of us (a-b). John argues that if they had been of us, they would have continued with us (c-d). Finally, John explains that the reason they left was to manifest their disunion with us (e-f). In context, the group of folks are the "ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ" (1 John 2:18), the "many antichrists."
With that background, the real difference in translation between the KJV "they were not all of us" and the ESV "they all are not of us" is not about whether some of the many antichrists were of us or all of the many antichrists were of us, but rather whether the "they" in (f) should be understood as changing referent to the people prior to the manifestation of the many antichrists or keeping the same referent as the antichrists themselves.
In other words, the KJV is conveying a similar sense to "they are not all Israel" (i.e. some of what appeared to be Israel wasn't really Israel), whereas the ESV is treating "all" as emphatic of the preceding.
The KJV does not say (nor - imho - does it mean) that "not all of them were of us," i.e. that the "many antichrists" were a mixed crowd, with some being of us and others not being of us. Instead, the KJV says (and imho means) that "they were not all of us," meaning that the "us" was a mixed group of folks who appeared to be of us and folks who actually were of us.
Not only is this a similar construction to Romans 9:6 but also to John 13:10-11 "but not all" and "ye are not all...."
In short, I don't think that the KJV translation (even if superior to the ESV) should create any confusion or lack of clarity regarding the message of 1 John 2:19, namely that if the "many antichrists" had been of us then they would not have left us.
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