ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου (I John 3:17)

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Title: But if Anyone Ever Should Have the Means of Living of the World

The text is, “ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου καὶ θεωρῇ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ χρείαν ἔχοντα καὶ κλείσῃ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτοῦ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ πῶς ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ μένει ἐν αὐτῷ”.

ὃς → masculine, singular, nominative, definite, relative pronoun → anyone

δ’ → coordinating conjunction → but

ἂν → particle → if ever

ἔχῃ → third person, singular, present, active, subjunctive verb → should have

τὸν masculine, singular, accusative article → the

βίον → masculine, singular, accusative noun → means of living

τοῦ → masculine, singular, genitive article → of the

κόσμου → masculine, singular, genitive noun → world

καὶ → coordinating additive conjunction → and

θεωρῇ → third person, singular, present, active, subjunctive verb → should behold

τὸν → masculine, singular, accusative article → the NRIEH**

ἀδελφὸν → masculine, singular, accusative noun → brother

αὐτοῦ → third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun → his

χρείαν → feminine, singular, accusative noun → need

ἔχοντα → present, active, participial, masculine, singular, nominative verb → having

καὶ → coordinating additive conjunction → and

κλείσῃ → third person,singular, aorist, active, subjunctive verb → closes

τὰ → neuter, plural, accusative article → the

σπλάγχνα → neuter, plural, accusative noun → affections of heart

αὐτοῦ → third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun → his

ἀπ’ → preposition taking the genitive for its object word → away from

αὐτοῦ → third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun → him

πῶς → interrogative particle → how

ἡ → feminine, singular, nominative article → the

ἀγάπη → feminine, singular, nominative noun → love

τοῦ → masculine, singular, genitive article → the NRIEH

θεοῦ → masculine, singular, genitive noun → of God

μένει → third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb → does abide

ἐν → preposition taking the dative for its object word → in

αὐτῷ → third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun → him

The meaning of this verse is,

But if anyone ever should have the means of living of the world and should behold his brother having need, and closes the affections of his heart away from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

**NRIEH:  For the sake of clarity the word is translated into English, but to avoid such odd constructions as applying a definite article (“the”) to a substantive sufficiently determined by its being a proper noun, or by the use of a qualifier other than the definite article. An example would be the basic translation “Peter said to the Jesus”; the word “the” is completely unnecessary. There are many examples of this in the New Testament. The designation NRIEH is equivalent to “Not Rendered Into English Here”.

ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου (I John 3:17) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.