05_Biblica_Do_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:57 Pagina 429 05_B 429 peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou VI. Uses of peri, in 1 John Regarding peri,, the phrase peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou in 2d hardly es- capes the reader’s attention. As Graph 1 suggests, two interpretations for the peri,-clauses are possible. First, 2d is meant to follow succes- sively 2b in the sense of the “sins” of the world as is implied in peri. twn a`martiw/n h`mw/n 59. We have argued that this is not the most plau- / sible interpretation because of the absence of th/j or tw/n before o[lou tou/ ko,smou. Second, 2d is meant to modify auvto.j i`lasmo,j evstin in 2a. In this way, 2b, 2c, and 2d are construed as three distinct, though not separate, prepositional phrases modifying auvto.j i`lasmo,j evstin in 2a. Thus it seems clear that the meaning of peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou is clearly connected with the main clause in 2a, and not with 2b. What connects 2b, 2c, and 2d syntactically is auvto.j i`lasmo,j evstin. As a preposition, peri, can take the genitive, dative, or accusative 60. Indeed peri, is one of the few prepositions in Greek (others are, e.g., meta, and u`pe,r) that can be followed by all three grammatical cases. In the NT, F. Blass and A. Debrunner note that the dative was in the process of waning with all prepositions (meta,, peri,, u`po,, and avna,), except evn 61. This is why in the NT peri, occurs with only two cases, namely genitive or accusative 62. BDAG gives two defini- tions of peri, 63: (a) with genitive peri, denotes the object or person to which (whom) an activity refers or relates, namely, “concerning;” and (b) with accusative it refers to a position, namely, “about”. In HARRIS, Prepositions and Theology, 182, notes: “The singular peri. 59 a`marti,aj occurs nine times and the plural peri. a`martiw/n five times in the NT. There is no material difference between the singular and plural since peri. a`marti,aj may mean ‘with respect to sins’ (as a genetic singular)”. Cf. LIDDELL and SCOTT, Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford 91996) s.v., 60 peri,, 545-546. HARRIS, Prepositions and Theology, 179, ranks peri, tenth in frequency among NT “proper” prepositions. BLASS - DEBRUNNER, Greek Grammar, § 203. 61 F.W. MOULTON and A.S. GEDEN, A Concordance to the Greek New Tes- 62 tament According to the Texts of Westcott, Hort, Tischendorf, and the English Revisers (Edinburgh 51993) 791-794, show about 333 occurrences of peri, in the NT for both genitive and accusative uses. The same statistics are shown in D.B. WALLACE, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament with Scripture, Subject, and Greek Word Indexes (Grand Rapids, MI 1996) 357. BDAG, s.v., peri,, 797-798. 63 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati