Think Wink.

Honzo asked a question about translating the particple πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων in John 3:16 (”whosoever believes” in most English translations). I did some reading up on this text and three things I think need to be said of the Greek phrase in question. The following is my reply.

1.) ὁ πιστεύων is an independent substantive participle. As such, it functions as the subject of the ἵνα clause and its verbs ἀπόληται and ἔχῃ. It should not be construed as being attributive to πᾶς.

2.) πᾶς is a pronomial adjective and as such it does not normal rules governing the position of adjectives. πᾶς is in the first predicative position, being outside the article-noun grouping. However, πᾶς does not relate to ὁ πιστεύων as a predicative (”the believing one is all”) but rather in a more attributive fashion. In short it modifies ὁ πιστεύων, not the other way around (i.e. ὁ πιστεύων is attributive to πᾶς). Thus πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων should not be construed as a relative clause.

3.) This point is more of a question. Are you arguing that ὁ πιστεύων is a gnomic or a continuous present? A gnomic present is a timeless present, and as such it speaks of a general, timeless fact, a maxim. A continuous present is repeated, continuous action. The post does not really distinguish the two. It sounds like Honzo in the post is arguing for a continuous present tense the emphasizes believing until the end. This fits more of how John uses πιστεύω in his Gospel (cf. John 20:31) (here is everywhere πιστεύων is used in John).

On the note of a gnomic present, John 3:16 fits the formula of πᾶς ὁ + present participle, and is thus a gnomic present. However, as stated above, John uses πιστεύω in a continuous sense, thus John 3:16 should not be taken in a gnomic sense. In fact, Dan Wallace argues on page 522 of his grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament,

This could also be taken as a gnomic present, but if so it is not a proverbial staement, not is it simply a general maxim. In this Gospel, there seems to be a qualitative distinction between the ongoing act of believing and the simple fact of believing.

This is true of John 4:13 where the formula for the gnomic present, πᾶς ὁ + present participle, is used without the gnomic force. Here, πᾶς ὁ πίνων has more of a customary present or iterative present.

He continues on page 523 n.26,

We have listed John 3:16 as belonging under “Customary Present” because of the stress in John on continual belief.

Again, this force of πιστεύω is clearly seen in John 20:31 where John uses πιστεύοντες as a continuous present to emphasize the fact that one must continually believe in order to have eternal life.

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