05_Biblica_Do_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:57 Pagina 415 05_B Does peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou imply “the sins of the whole world” in 1 John 2,2? Since the 1916 edition of A. Plummer’s Epistles of John 1, critics have been increasingly sensitive to how the three peri,-clauses in 1 John 2,2 make for difficult interpretation 2. The last of these has often been rendered “concerning the sin(s) of the whole world” 3. The English “the sin(s)” is inserted here without Greek parallel. Crit- ics identify the adverbial construction ouv mo,non avlla. kai, as indi- cating the sequence of 2c and 2d following the peri,-clause in 2b 4. However, this solution does not explain precisely to what peri. o[lou A. PLUMMER, The Epistles of S. John with Notes, Introduction, and Ap- 1 pendices (CBSC; Cambridge 1886 and 1896) 89, interprets avlla. kai. peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou as “but also for the sins of the whole world … ‘the sins of’ is not repeated in the Greek and is not needed in English”. This interpretation disappears in Plummer’s 1916 edition. There A. PLUMMER, The Epistles of S. John with Notes, Introduction, and Appendices (CGTSC; Cambridge 1916 and 2010) 36, quotes Martin Luther as an innovation, saying: “So Luther: ‘sondern auch für der ganzen Welt.’ The supposed ellipse [th/j or tw/n follow- ing peri,] is neither necessary nor very probable: rather, as R.V., but also for the whole world ... and if it be said that i`lasmo,j implies twn a`martiw/n (which / may be doubted), then let ‘propitiation’ imply ‘sins’ in the English. We are not justified in inserting the word”. A.T. ROBERTSON, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light 2 of Historical Research (Nashville, TN 1934) 441, notes: “The case of 1 Jo. 2,2 is simple where instead of peri. tw/n o[lou tou/ ko,smou (to be parallel with ouv peri. tw/n h`mete,rwn) John has merely peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou, a somewhat different conception”. Robertson regards this ellipsis as “lack of parallelism” or “heterogeneous structure” (p. 1199). For a brief explanation of peri, in 1 John 2,2, see J.H. THAYER, Greek- 3 English Lexicon of the New Testament. Coded with Strong’s Concordance Numbers (Peabody, MA 102012) 501. Grammarians indicate that peri, with genitive case is often used in metaphorical senses. For example, C.F.D. MOULE, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek (Cambridge 21977) 62, com- ments on the use of peri,: “with the genitive it is much commoner; but is only so used in metaphorical senses. These can be broadly comprehended within the sense concerning”. See also J.H MOULTON and N. TURNER, A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Syntax (Edinburgh 1963) 269-270. R.E. BROWN, The Epistles of John (AB 30; New York 1982) 222. 4 BIBLICA 94.3 (2013) 415-435 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati