John 12:20-33
12:20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.
12:21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
12:22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
12:23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
12:24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
12:25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
12:27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say–‘ Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.
12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
12:29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
12:30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.
12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
12:33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
[20]῏Ησαν δέ τινες ῞Ελληνες ἐκ τῶν ἀναβαινόντων ἵνα προσκυνήσωσιν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ.
[21]οὗτοι οὖν προσῆλθον Φιλίππῳ τῷ ἀπὸ Βηθσαϊδὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, καὶ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν λέγοντες· κύριε, θέλομεν τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν ἰδεῖν.
[22]ἔρχεται Φίλιππος καὶ λέγει τῷ ᾿Ανδρέᾳ, καὶ πάλιν ᾿Ανδρέας καὶ Φίλιππος λέγουσι τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ·
[23]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτοῖς λέγων· ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
[24]ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ, αὐτὸς μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει.
[25] ὁ φιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, καὶ ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φυλάξει αὐτήν.
[26]ἐὰν ἐμοὶ διακονῇ τις, ἐμοὶ ἀκολουθείτω, καὶ ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, ἐκεῖ καὶ ὁ διάκονος ὁ ἐμὸς ἔσται· καὶ ἐάν τις ἐμοὶ διακονῇ, τιμήσει αὐτὸν ὁ πατήρ.
[27]Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται, καὶ τί εἴπω; πάτερ, σῶσον με ἐκ τῆς ὥρας ταύτης. ἀλλὰ διά τοῦτο ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ὥραν ταύτην.
[28]πάτερ, δόξασόν σου τὸ ὄνομα. ἦλθεν οὖν φωνὴ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· καὶ ἐδόξασα καὶ πάλιν δοξάσω.
[29]ὁ οὖν ὄχλος ὁ ἑστὼς καὶ ἀκούσας ἔλεγε βροντὴν γεγονέναι· ἄλλοι ἔλεγον· ἄγγελος αὐτῷ λελάληκεν.
[30]ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν· οὐ δι᾽ ἐμὲ αὕτη ἡ φωνὴ γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ δι᾽ ὑμᾶς.
[31]νῦν κρίσις ἐστὶ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, νῦν ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἐκβληθήσεται ἔξω·
[32]κἀγὼ ἐὰν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.
[33]τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγε σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνήσκειν.
Comments
In the lectionary’s translation the two verbs in v. 25 (‘lose’, ‘keep’) are in the present tense. In the Greek text they are in the future (‘will lose’, ‘will keep’). R. E. Brown notes in the Anchor Yale Bible commentary (1966), p. 467 ad loc.: ‘Some MSS have a future tense, but this is a harmonization with the Synoptics, which all use the future in their form of this statement.’
[23] ἵνα δοξασθῇ: 3rd pers. sg., aor. pass. subj. < δοξάζω, tr., ‘I magnify, extol’ (cl. Gk & LXX: LSJ s.v.). The pass. δοξάζομαι is freq. attested in later Gk, as here. Δόξα, ἡ = ‘honour, glory’ (cl. Gk: LSJ). In v. 28 the active form is thrice repeated.
[25] ὁ φιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, καὶ ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φυλάξει αὐτήν: I will forego the temptation of citing the early Greek evidence for the term psyche, starting with Erwin Rohde’s classic Psyche: The cult of souls and belief in immortality among the Greeks (orig. Germ., 1st edn, Heidelberg, 1893; Engl. tr., London & NY, 1925). Suffice it to say that the notion of ps. first occurs in Homer and seems to change by 400 BC; and that the Greeks did not have a unitary concept of body and soul.
Of more immediate pertinence to our pericope is the LXX use of ψυχή, which denotes, first, the ‘life-force’ of human beings and non-human animates alike (and which, I may add, is largely in keeping with Homer: Muraoka s.v. 1); still more pertinent, ψυχή can serve as the equivalent of ‘himself’, ‘yourself’ as in Pr. 15.32, ὅς ἀπωθεῖται παιδείαν, μισεῖ ἑαυτόν˙ ὁ δὲ τηρῶν ἐλέγχους ἀγαπᾷ ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ [‘he who rejects education hates himself; he who conforms to criticism loves his “soul (or himself)”’] (Muraoka s.v. ψυχή, 3f.).
ἀπολέσει αὐτήν: ἀπολέσει, 3rd pers. sg. < ἀπόλλυμι, ἀπολλύω, tr., ‘I destroy’ (already in Homer & cl. Gk; also LXX); ‘I lose’ (already in Homer). In Greek the future can be instantaneous (‘will lose’—a one-off event) or continuous (‘will be losing’). Cf. φυλάξει.
ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ: μισῶ (μισέω), tr., ‘I hate’ (already Homer & cl. Gk: LSJ); in LXX, ‘I have a strong dislike of’ (Muraoka s.v.); ‘spurn, reject’, as here (Muraoka’s exx. include the latter sense).
φυλάξει αὐτήν: φυλάξει, 3rd pers. sg. < φυλάσσω (φυλάττω, Αttic Gk), tr., here, ‘I preserve, maintain, cherish [as valuable]’ (already in Homer & cl. Gk & LXX: LSJ & Muraoka s.v.).
Thus: ‘He who loves his “soul”/ his self will lose (or will be losing) it, and he who spurns (disdains, rejects) his “soul”/ his self in this world, will preserve (or will be preserving ) it unto life eternal.’
For the particular meaning of ‘soul’ as self in this passage see St Augustine, Sermon 330.2 (PL 38: 1456).
[27] Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται: ψυχή here = ‘my inner self’. Cf. Mark 14: 34 (‘heart’).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 