St John 16: 12-15
The Spirit will guide you into the truth
16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
16:14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
16:15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
[12] ῎Ετι πολλὰ ἔχω λέγειν ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ δύνασθε βαστάζειν ἄρτι.
[13 ] ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν· οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσα ἂν ἀκούσῃ λαλήσει, καὶ τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν.
[14] ἐκεῖνος ἐμὲ δοξάσει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν.
[15] πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ πατὴρ ἐμά ἐστι· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν.
Comments
The statement ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται (v. 14, repeated in v. 15), ‘from my part’, ‘from my affairs he/ it will take’) sounds odd as only the nominative and acc. case of the substantive τὸ ἐμόν (sc. μέρος/ ‘part’) is attested in cl. Gk. St John betrays himself as a non-native speaker and writer.
Abbreviations used:
Chantraine = P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque, Paris, 1968-80.
EDNT = Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols, eds, H. Balz & G. Schneider, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990-3 (orig. Stuttgart, 1978-83).
LSJ = H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn, with new Supplement, Oxford, 1996 (available online).
[12] βαστάζειν ἄρτι: βαστάζω, ‘carry, bear a physical object’ (cl. Gk poetry, not attested in Attic prose); fig., ‘weigh, weigh up something in one’s spirit or mind’ (Aesch. Pr. 888; Ar. Th. 437) (LSJ, s.v. II. 1 &3; Chantraine, s.v.). John seems to mean ‘weigh up’, hence ‘understand’ (although he does not include the phrase ‘in mind’). Another fig. sense is post-classical, ‘endure, bear’, which many translations seem to prefer.
ἄρτι: temporal adv., ‘just now’, ‘right now’; mostly of the present, with present tense vb (archaic & cl. poetry & cl. prose: LSJ s.v. ). ‘Right now, you are unable to understand’: Jesus, a good teacher, leaves the more advanced matter for later.
[13] ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας: the demonstr. pron. ἐκεῖνος, ‘that one’ (masculine) is here weakened, being the equivalent of ‘he’. τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ‘the Spirit of truth’ (neuter), stands in apposition to ‘that one’. The demonstrative is repeated in v. 14.
τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν: ἀναγγελεῖ, 3rd pers. sg., fut. of the cmpd ἀναγγέλλω, which in koine loses its cmpd meaning, and is synonymous with ἀγγέλλω, ‘I report, announce’. The vb is repeated in v. 14.
τὰ ἐρχόμενα: pres. part, ‘the coming things’. The present can be ‘prophetic’, as here, when it expresses an absolute certainty about a future event.
[14] ἐκεῖνος ἐμὲ δοξάσει: the lack of a connecting particle (asyndeton) is always noticeable in standard Greek. The new sentence (v.14) has no marker, e.g. the particle δέ, linking it to the previous statement (v.13).
ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται: ἐμός, poss. pronomial adj.; here it is a substantive, τὸ ἐμόν, ‘my part, my interest’ (Att. prose & cl. poetry: LSJ s.v. ἐμός, ΙΙ.3). ἐμός, the emphatic pron. adj., appears esp. freq. in St John (41 out of 76 x: EDNT s.v.); this frequency is idiosyncratic to him.
ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν is repeated in v. 15.
[15] πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ πατὴρ ἐμά ἐστι· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν: Asyndeton also characterises this verse. Asyndeton sometimes introduces an explanatory (epexegetic) statement, and indeed v.15 explains v. 14.
ἐμά: the personal pronomial adj. (‘mine, my own’) can be emphatic. Here it distinguishes ‘me’ from ‘the (or my) father’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 