The Significance of the Ancient Hebrew Poetic Parallelism in One of the Best-Known Verses in the New Testament
by Kenneth F. Sheets
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Greek Text:
Οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
Descriptive Literal Translation:
For in this manner God loved the [ordered] world, as indeed His son, the only begotten one, He gave, in order that everyone causing firmness into him would not destroy himself, but would possess everlasting life.
Analysis:
The Apostle John, a Hebrew man writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God, used ancient Hebrew parallelism structure in this Greek text verse just as he might have done if he had been writing in Hebrew. His main clause stated the explanatory fact that “God loved the ordered world in a certain manner.” He then followed by using a comparative clause, introduced by the comparative conjunction hōste (ὥστε), to specify the manner by which God loved: “He gave His son, the only begotten one.” John did not stop there, continuing on to express God’s purpose in giving in such an incredible manner. God gave His son “in order that everyone causing firmness [to His son as the means of reconciliation to the Creator] would not destroy himself, but would have everlasting life.”
John, however, used a very specific type of structure, ancient Hebrew parallelism, to express God’s purpose. The Apostle combined Hebrew contrasting parallelism, so common in the OT Scriptures, with the Greek hina (ἵνα) clause to express his meaning in unequivocal fashion. Writing in Greek, he gave God’s purpose in two lines which are set in contrast to one another by the strong adversative “but” (ällä, ἀλλα) along with the negative “not” (mé, μὴ). The two lines are actually “saying the same thing,” that is, they are stating the same truth while using words that are opposites or contrasts to do so.
The subject of each line is “whosoever believeth in him,” literally, “every one causing firmness into Him,” but the predicates are opposites. The words “should not perish,” from the aorist subjunctive middle of apollumi, ἀπόλλυμι, literally, “may not perish [destroy] himself,” in the Greek vernacular of the first century, might normally be understood to refer to the loss or destruction of one’s physical life.[1] John, however, set the word in a “contrasting parallelism” relationship to “[should] have everlasting life,” where “everlasting life” is the object of the verb “have” (ĕhké, ἔχῃ), the present subjunctive active of ĕhkō, ἔχω. The significance of the relationship between the two predicates is that each clarifies the reference of the other; thus, the loss or destruction of the first line is not in relation to physical life but to eternal life. The failure to possess, to “have,” eternal life is to exist in a condition called “perishing,” where one is bringing about his own destruction, and that destruction is, like the life with respect to which it is in contrast, eternal.
The individual himself (the significance of the middle voice of the verb) is responsible for his perishing. While God is the ultimate cause behind the destruction, God is not the one who is responsible for that individual’s perishing. Certainly, He set the criterion for reconciliation, for salvation, that is, He is the one who established the way a perishing individual was to receive, to “have,” eternal life, and He delegated to man not only the ability but also the authority and opportunity to conform to that criterion, but He did not condemn anyone who did not have an opportunity to “cause firmness” to His revelation of that criterion. God delegated to each individual the authority to receive or to reject that revelation for himself. He restrained no one from His truth; each individual is “drawn away and enticed” away from God’s truth by his own desires, not by the predetermination of the Creator.
[1] LSJM apollumi.