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10. ἐν τῷ ἵ xvii. 25; 1 9 Cor. i. 21.
κόσµωῳ ἦν, καὶ 6 κόσμος δι αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, ‘kai ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὖκ j Acts xxiv.
> εγνω.
philosophical researches (see Justin’s Dial., ii., etc., and Clement, passim).— ἐρχόμενον has been variously construed, with ἄνθρωπον, with τὸ das, or with ἦν. (1) The first construction is favoured by Chrysostom, Euthymius, the Vulgate, and A. V., “ that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”; or with Meyer, “ the true light which lightens every man coming into the world was present” (ἦν = aderat). To the objection that ἐρχόμ. . +. κόσμον is thus redundant, Meyer replies that there is such a thing as a solemn redundance, and that we have here an ‘“‘epic fulness of words”. But the “epic fulness” is here out of place, emphasising πάντα ἄνθρωπον. Besides, in this Gospel, ‘‘ coming into the world” is not used of human birth, but of appearance in one’s place among men. And still further ἐρχόμενον of this verse is Obviously in contrast with the ἐν τῷ Koop ἦν of the next, and the subject of both clauses must be the same. (2) The second construction, with τὸ φῶς, was advocated by Grotius (‘valde mihi se probat expositio quae apud Cyrillum et Augustinum exstat, ut hoc ἐρχόμενον referatur ad τὸ φῶς,' cf. iii. το, xii. 46, xviil. 37), and has been adopted by Godet, who renders thus: ‘(That light) was the true light which lighteth every man, by coming (itself) into the world”. If this were John’s meaning, it is difficult to see why he did not insert οὗτος as in the second verse or τοῦτο. (3) The third construction, with ἦν, has much to recom- mend it, and has been adopted by West- cott, Holtzmann, and others. The R. V. margin renders as if ἦν ἐρχόμενον were the periphrastic imperfect commonly used in N. T., “the true light which en- lighteneth every man was coming into the world,” 1.ε., at the time when the Baptist was witnessing, the true light was dawning on the world. Westcott, however, thinks it best to take it «ποτε literally and yet more generally as describing a coming which was Ῥτο- gressive, slowly accomplished, combined with a permanent being, so that both the verb (was) and the participle (coming) have their full force and do not form a periphrasis for an imperfect”. And he translates: ‘‘ There was the light, the true light which lighteth every man;
ε 29. 11. εἲς τὰ ἴδια HAGE, καὶ Joi ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ * παρέλαβον. k Col. ii. 6.
that light was, and yet more, that light was coming into the world ”’.—Ver. 1Ο. ἐν τῷ κόσµῳ . . . οὐκ ἔγνω. Vv. το and 11 briefly summarise what happened when the Logos, the Light, came into the world. John has said: ‘The Light was coming into the world’’; take now a further step, ἐν τῷ κόσµῳ ἦν, and let us see what happened. Primarily rejec- tion. The simplicity of the statement, the thrice repeated κόσμος, and the con- necting of the clauses by a mere καί, deepens the pathos. The Logos is the subject, as is shown by both the second and the third clause.
Westcott thinks that the action of the Light which has been comprehensively viewed in νετ. 9 is in vv. το, 11 divided into two parts. ‘‘ The first part (ver. 10) gathers up the facts and issues of the manifestation of the Light as immanent. The second part (ver. 11) contains an account of the special personal manifesta- tion of the Light to a chosen race.” That is possible; only the obvious ad- vance from the ἐρχόμενον of ver. 9 to the ἦν of ver. 1ο is thus obscured. Certainly Westcott goes too far when he says: “It is impossible to refer these words simply to the historical presence of the Word in Jesus as witnessed to by the Baptist ’’.