Let's give Isaac the benefit of the doubt. (If we don't he will just take it anyway.) Let's assume that in the text above, the opening ὃ is short for τὸ ὃ, and the sentence is a type of dangling nominative title to the Epistle, with the Epistle proper beginning in verse 2. (You do have something similar to this in the opening of Mark's Gospel:John W. wrote:Isaac wishes to print a full stop at the end of verse 1, as follows:
Ὃ ἦν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς.
As per the version quoted by Andrew above (but not translating the concluding words, to avoid getting drawn into the sub-debate about them), this would have to mean something like:
'What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς.'
In view of Isaac's apparent fondness for grammatical correctness, can he tell us how this constitutes a complete sentence?
Under this scenario, we concede that the first ὃ is NOT the object of ἀπαγγέλλομεν in verse 3. I still don't see why this strengthens Isaac argument that the first ὃ does not refer to Jesus as person. You can announce the non-person Logos just as much as you can announce the message about him, can't you?Mk 1:1 Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ θεοῦ. 2 Καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ, Ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου: Note the period after verse 1.)
In other words, rather than trying to get Isaac to concede that what he is saying about the relative clauses is wrong, maybe we can get him to see that it is unnecessary?
To me it is more like the Vietnam War. I'm not really sure why I am here in the first place, but, being here, I just want to declare victory and go home.John W. wrote:I really was going to stay away from this traincrash of a thread, but its grisly fascination has once again drawn me like a moth to a flame - and I'll probably end up experiencing the same fate as the unfortunate creature ...