John 7:18

ὁ ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ· ὁ δὲ ζητῶν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτὸν οὗτος ἀληθής ἐστιν καὶ ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν.

Rough Word-by-word:
The from himself one speaking the glory the one's own he seeks, the but one seeking the glory of the one who sent him this one true is and unrighteousness in him not is.

Smooth Translation:
The one speaking from himself seeks his own glory, but the one seeking the glory of the one who sent him, this one is true and unrighteousness is not in him.

ὁ definite article nominative singular masculine "the"

ἀφ’ preposition with genitive "from"

ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun genitive singular masculine "himself"

λαλῶν present active participle nominative singular masculine from λαλέω (I speak) "speaking"

τὴν definite article accusative singular feminine "the"

δόξαν noun accusative singular feminine "glory"

τὴν definite article accusative singular feminine "the"

ἰδίαν adjective accusative singular feminine "ones own"

ζητεῖ verb present active indicative 3rd singular from ζητέω (I seek) "he seeks"

ὁ definite article nominative singular masculine "the"

δὲ post positive conjunction "but"

ζητῶν present active participle nominative singular masculine from ζητέω (I seek) "one seeking"

τὴν definite article accusative singular feminine "the"

δόξαν noun accusative singular feminine "glory"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular masculine "of the"

πέμψαντος aorist active participle genitive singular masculine "one who sent"

αὐτὸν pronoun accusative singular masculine "him"

οὗτος demonstrative pronoun nominative singular masculine "this man, this one"

ἀληθής substantive adjective nominative singular feminine "true"

ἐστιν verb present indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "[he] is"

καὶ conjunction "and"

ἀδικία noun nominative singular feminine "unrighteousness"

ἐν dative preposition "in"

αὐτῷ pronoun dative singular masculine "him"

οὐκ adverb of negation "not"

ἔστιν verb present indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "[she] is"

Any John Gresham fans?

No, I'm not talking about the popular author of  "The Client" or "The Pelican Brief."

I'm talking about John Gresham Machen, the author of one of the most popular Greek Grammars of the last century.

Here is a brief quote from his reflection on "The Minister and His Greek New Testament" (The highlighting in bold is from me.)

The bearing of this modern attitude toward the study of the Bible upon the study of the Greek Testament is sufficiently obvious. If the time allotted to strictly biblical studies must be diminished, obviously the most laborious part of those studies, the part least productive of immediate results, will be the first to go. And that part, for students insufficiently prepared, is the study of Greek and Hebrew. If, on the other band, the minister is a specialist—if the one thing that he owes his congregation above all others is a thorough acquaintance, scientific as well as experimental, with the Bible—then the importance of Greek requires no elaborate argument. In the first place, almost all the most important books about the New Testament presuppose a knowledge of Greek: the student who is

without at least a smattering of Greek is obliged to use for the most part works that are written, figuratively speaking, in words of one syllable. In the second place, such a student

cannot deal with all the problems at first hand, but in a thousand important questions is at the mercy of the judgment of others. In the third place, our student without Greek cannot

acquaint himself with the form as well as the content of the New Testament books. The New Testament, as well as all other literature, loses something in translation. But why

argue the, question? Every scientific student of the New Testament without exception knows that Greek is really necessary to his work: the real question is only as to whether

our ministry should be manned by scientific students.

I took this from http://www.davidcox.com.mx/library/M/Machen,%20J%20Gresham%20-%20The%20Minister%20&%20His%20Greek%20Testament.pdf

The whole article is a good read.

John 7:17

ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν, γνώσεται περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς πότερον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστὶν ἢ ἐγὼ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ λαλῶ.

Rough Word-by-word:
If any man he should wish the will of him to do, he will know concerning the teaching whether from the God she is or I myself from myself I speak.

Smooth Translation:
If any man wishes to do his will, he will know concerning the teaching, whether it is from God or I speak from myself.

ἐάν conditional particle "if"

τις indefinite pronoun nominative singular masculine "[any man] anyone"

θέλῃ verb present active subjunctive 3rd singular from θέλω (I wish, I will) "[he] should wish"

τὸ definite article accusative singular neuter "the"

θέλημα noun accusative singular neuter "will"

αὐτοῦ pronoun genitive singular masculine "of him"

ποιεῖν verb present active infinitive from ποιέω (I do) "to do"

γνώσεται verb future middle indicative 3rd singular from  γινώσκω (I know) "he will know"

περὶ preposition with genitive "concerning"

τῆς definite article genitive singular feminine "the"

διδαχῆς noun genitive singular feminine "teaching"

πότερον interrogative particle correlating with ἢ "whether"

ἐκ genitive preposition "from, out of"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular masculine "the"

θεοῦ proper noun genitive singular masculine "God"

ἐστὶν verb present indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "[she]it is"

ἢ conjunction correlating with πότερον "or"

ἐγὼ personal pronoun nominative 1st singular "I [myself]"

ἀπ’ preposition with genitive "from"

ἐμαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun genitive 1st singular "myself"

λαλῶ verb present active indicative 1st singular from λαλέω (I speak) "I speak"

John 7:16

ἀπεκρίθη οὖν αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν Ἡ ἐμὴ διδαχὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὴ ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με·

Rough Word-by-word:
 He answered therefore to them Jesus and he said, "The my teaching not she is mine, but of the one sending me."


Smooth Translation:

Therefore Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not mine, but of the one  who sent me."

Notes: Interesting that πέμπω is used for sending here.

ἀπεκρίθη verb aorist passive indicative 3rd singular from ἀποκρίνω (I answer) "He answered"

οὖν post positive conjunction "therefore"

αὐτοῖς pronoun dative plural "to them"

Ἰησοῦς proper noun nominative singular masculine "Jesus"

καὶ conjunction "and"

εἶπεν verb aorist active indicative 3rd singular from λέγω (I say) "he said"

Ἡ definite article nominative singular feminine "the"

ἐμὴ possessive adjective nominative singular feminine "my, mine"

διδαχὴ noun nominative singular feminine "teaching"

οὐκ adverb of negation "not"

ἔστιν verb present indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "[she] it is"

ἐμὴ possessive adjective nominative singular feminine "my, mine"

ἀλλὰ strong adversative conjunction "but"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular masculine "of the"

πέμψαντός aorist active participle genitive singular masculine from πέμπω (I send) "one sending"

με pronoun accusative 1st singular "me"

Why so tense?

Way back in December of 2007 I was translating John 1:4 on this blog, using the Tischendorf (1879) version of the Greek text from http://www.greattreasures.org, and noted that in this version the tense of the verb εἰμί (I am) is present indicative, while the UBS and it seems most other versions use the imperfect indicative.
You can view my parsing and translating from 2007 here:
http://www.winebrennergreekstudygroup.blogspot.com/2007/12/john-14.html

But what does it matter? Why is the tense important?

This is the exciting thing about Greek Grammar to me. It matters because this is God's word and we want to be faithful to express it as he meant it, not just in some sloppy haphazard fashion. It is important for us to consider the differences brought about by a change in tense.

We might translate John 1:4, "In him is life and the life was the light of men."

Or we might translate it, "In him was life and the life was the light of men."

The fact that both of these are biblically supported true statements, I think, draws us into a deeper understanding of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Is John speaking of the eternal, pre-incarnate, life that has enlightened men for all time, or is John making a statement to those in need of life TODAY who can find it in the source of life, namely this eternal Logos, Jesus? It may seem a fine nuance, but thinking about it causes us to think about Our Lord, who both WAS and IS life and light for each of us and all of us.