Without (yepis). Lit., apart from. Compare xv. 5.
Was not anything made that was made (éyévero ovde év, 6 yéyovev). Many authorities place the period after év, and join 6 yévovev with what follows, rendering, “ without Him was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in Hanis
* So the Rev., but not consistently throughout. A. V., by. See my article on the Revised New Testament, Presbyterian Review, October, 1881.
+ This reading is very earnestly defended by Canon Westcott, and is adopted in Westcott and Hort’s text, and supported by Milligan and Moulton. It is rejected by Tischendorf and by the Revisers ; also by Alford, De Wette, Meyer, and Godet. Grammatical considerations seem to be against it (see Alford on the passage), but Canon Westcott’s defence is most ingenious and plausible.
38 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Made (éyévero), as before, came into being.
Not anything (ovdé év). Lit., not even one thing. Compare on 7ravra (all things) at the beginning of this verse.
That was made (6 yéyovev). Rev., more correctly, that hath been made, observing the force of the perfect tense as dis- tinguished from the aorist (éyévero). The latter tense points back to the work of creation considered as a definite act or series of acts in the beginning of time. The perfect tense in- dicates the continuance of things created ; so that the full idea is, that which hath been made and exists. The combination of a positive and negative clause (compare ver. 20) is characteristic of John’s style, as also of James’. See note on “ wanting noth- ing,” Jas. i. 4.
4. In Him was life (é€v air@é Sw jv). He was the fountain of life—physical, moral, and eternal—its principle and source. Two words for life are employed in the New Testament : Bios and tw). The primary distinction is that fo? means existence as contrasted with death, and Bios, the period, means, or man- ner of existence. Hence ios is originally the higher word, being used of men, while {7 is used of animals (faa). We speak therefore of the discussion of the life and habits of ani- mals as zoology; and of accounts of men’s lives as béography. Animals have the vital principle in common with men, but men lead lives controlled by intellect and will, and directed to moral and intellectual ends. In the New Testament, Bios means either liwing, i.e., means of subsistence (Mark xii. 44; Luke viii. 43), or course of life, life regarded as an economy (Luke viii. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 2; 2 Tim. ii. 4). Zw occurs in the lower sense of life, considered principally or wholly as existence (1 Pet. iii. 10; Acts viii. 33; xvii. 25; Heb. vii. 3). There seems to be a significance in the use of the word in Luke xvi. 25: “Thou in thy lifetime (év 1H Son cov) receivedst thy good things;” the intimation being that the rich man’s life had been little better than mere existence, and not life at all in the true sense. But throughout the New Testament C7) is the