05_Biblica_Do_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:57 Pagina 421 05_B 421 peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou this regard is the inventory of N.H. Cassem 26, who studies the Johan- nine use of ko,smoj. As the title of his article indicates, Cassem suggests implications in light of the limited Johannine use of ko,smoj. “Although only occurring twice in Johannine literature, the phrase o[loj o` ko,smoj casts the world in [a] negative light. The references are to ‘the sins of the whole world’ (1 John 2,2) and to the gloomy declaration ‘the world is in the power of the evil one’ (1 John 5,19)” 27. Arguing in this regard, Cassem reads peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou as having everything to do with the “sins” of the world; thus he holds that the Johannine cosmic atti- tude is entirely negative. Cassem further notes that the author uses kosmoj in a hostile sense in the epistle 28. , Cassem inserts “the sins” into the Greek text without qualification. In this instance Cassem is no exception. His interpretation of 2d as “in negative light” and “more ambivalent or hostile” seems to be solely based on the insertion “the sins”. However the Greek of 2d does not warrant a reference to a`marti,a “sin(s)” in a singular or plural, in- dividual or collective, sense. To make such a parallel regarding “the sin(s)” of the world the article th/j or tw/n as a necessary grammatical component must follow peri, and precede o[lou tou/ ko,smou 29. A good example occurs in 1 John 3,12. The author compares the evil deeds of Cain and those righteous deeds of his brother Abel: o[ti ta. e;rga auvtou/ ponhra. h=n, ta. de. tou/ avdelfou/ auvtou/ di,kaia. Here the second ta, is explicitly used to make a parallel expression with ta. e;rga in the sentence 30. In the absence of the article in 2d, N.H. CASSEM, “A Grammatical and Contextual Inventory of the Use of 26 kósmos in the Johannine Corpus with Some Implications for a Johannine Cos- mic Theology”, NTS 19 (1972-1973) 81-91. For different views on the sum- mary of the Johannine use of ko,smoj, see F.-M. BRAUN, “‘Le péché du monde selon saint Jean’”, RevThom 65 (1965) 181-201; R.E. BROWN, The Gospel according to John I-XII (AB 29; New York 1966) 508-510. CASSEM, “Grammatical and Contextual Inventory”, 85. 27 Ibid., 89. See also the summary in Table 4 on page 88 in Cassem’s article. 28 ROBERTSON, Grammar, 441, 1199. See n. 2. Then 1 John 2,2d would 29 have read: peri. th/j [or tw/n] o[lou tou/ ko,smou. Here I presume that peri, takes the genitive case as the phrase o[lou tou/ ko,smou implies. In Attic Greek peri, can take genitive, dative, or accusative. But its use with the dative seems to have waned in NT Greek. Cf. M.J. HARRIS, Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament. An Essential Reference Resource for Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI 2012) 179-180; and BDAG, 797-798, s.v., peri,. Cf. also the following: gra,fw u`mi/n( pate,rej( o[ti evgnw,kate to.n avpV 30 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati