How Great is Your Love?

I am reading a book for an Ethics class in which the author makes much of the differences between the Greek words for Love. A strong case is made for thinking of ἀγαπάω as superior to φιλέω.

But I have often wondered at John's use of the word in John 12:43. Here we have the description of a negative kind of love, but notice the use of ἀγαπάω.

ἠγάπησαν γὰρ τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μᾶλλον ἤπερ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ.

"For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God."

Can we overpress the differences in word choice for love?
Any other thoughts?

For Here or To Go?

I've been using my Greek New Testament to follow along with Les Feldick's program on the local Christian T.V. station. I don't always agree with Les's teaching, although I find more agreement than disagreement, but he sticks to the Bible which makes following in the Greek a worthwhile exercise.

I've found that just taking my Greek New Testament with me allows me to follow along in other situations as well.

Now let me be clear. Often the English readers go to fast for me and I can only pick out some of the words, but I believe continued use is important to language aquisition so whenever and wherever I can my Greek New Testament goes with me and my Bible.

peace

Long Time, No Post

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted. Life can sometimes get very hectic. I am wondering why it is so difficult to keep up language study. I would love to explore PRACTICAL ways to build on the basics and even to maintain the basics of New Testament Greek.

1.) It seems to me that the single most important element is DAILY time spent.
This is regardless of amount of time spent. There seems to be something that happens in the brain when we read Greek. If that process can happen on a daily basis, no matter how small the amount of time, then significant retention of the language takes place.

2.) Just READING is helpful, but reading with others is even better. If ANYBODY wants to get together to read, please contact me via a comment. With all those taking Greek at the Seminary a reading group should be a possibility. I'm talking basic level here. Nothing complex. Simple Johanine reading with no proficiency level assumed.

3.) Blog comments. This COULD be a good venue for interaction.

4.) ???? (am open to suggestions)

To be or not to be

An interesting observation came up in a greek reading group yesterday. We were reading in the sermon on the mount at Matthew 5:48. Here is the Greek text:

ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν.

The question is concerning ἔσεσθε which is a future middle indicative 2nd plural from εἰμί.
Many translations treat this as a command or imperative with, "Be ye, therefore, perfect...,"
but should it rather be treated more as a result? "Ye, therefore, will be perfect..." or even "You, then, will be perfect..."

Are there any syntactical or grammatical reasons for treating this future middle as an imperative?
Commentaries I've looked at so far seem to assume one treatment or the other without dealing with the grammatical question.

John 1:12

ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,

ὅσοι relative pronoun "as many as"

δὲ post positive conjunction "and" or "but"

ἔλαβον verb aorist active indicative 3rd plural from λαμβάνω "received"

αὐτόν personal pronoun accusative masculine singular "him"

ἔδωκεν verb aorist active indicative 3rd singular from δίδωμι "he gave"

αὐτοῖς pronoun dative plural "to them"

ἐξουσίαν noun accusative feminine singular "authority"

τέκνα noun nominative neuter plural "children"

θεοῦ noun genitive masculine singular "of God"

γενέσθαι verb aorist middle infinitive from γίνομαι "to become"

τοῖς defininte article dative masculine plural "the"

πιστεύουσιν verb present active participle dative masculine plural (note the attributive position of this participle. It is describing the "them" of αὐτοῖς.)

εἰς prepostion with accusative case "in" or "into"

τὸ definite article accusative neuter singular "the"

ὄνομα noun accusative neuter singular "name"

αὐτοῦ personal pronoun genitive masculine singular "of him"

Rough Translation:

as many as but received him he gave to them authority children of God to become the believing in the name of him

Smooth Translation:

But as many as received him, to them he gave authority to become children of God, the ones believing in his name.

John 1:11

εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.

εἰς preposition accusative "into"

τὰ definite article nominative neuter plural "the"

ἴδια noun nominative neuter plural "one's own things"

ἦλθεν verb aorist indicative 3rd singular from ἔρχομαι "he came"

καὶ conjunction "and"

οἱ definite article nominative masculine plural "the"

ἴδιοι noun nominative masculine plural "his own (people)"

αὐτὸν pronoun accusative masculine singular "him, himself"

οὐ negative particle "not"

παρέλαβον verb aorist active indicative 3rd plural from παραλαμβάνω "they received"

Rough Translation:

into the one's own things he came and the his own himself not they received

Smooth Translation:

He came to his own things and his own people did not receive him

John 1:10

ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω.

ἐν preposition dative "in"

τῷ definite article dative masculine singular "the"

κόσμῳ noun dative masculine singular "world"

ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί "(he) was"

καὶ conjunction "and"

ὁ defininte article nominative masculine singular "the"

κόσμος noun nominative masculine singular "world"

δι' elided preposition with genitive "through"

αὐτοῦ personal pronoun genitive masculine singular "him"

ἐγένετο verb aorist middle indicative 3rd singular from γίνομαι "came to be"

καὶ correlating conjunction "but"

ὁ definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

κόσμος noun nominative masculine singular "world"

αὐτὸν personal pronoun accusative masculine singular "him"

οὐκ negative particle "not"

ἔγνω verb aorist active indicative 3rd singular from γινώσκω "he (or "it" - the world) knew"

Rough Translation:

in the world he was and the world through him came to be and the world him not it knew

Smooth Transaltion:

He was in the world and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.