Deen Academy Tries to Pull a Quick One on John 17:3

Creation vs. Evolution: Deen Academy Underlines that Biblical and Quranic Flood (As he sees it) are Not the Same · somewhere else: Deen Academy Tries to Pull a Quick One on John 17:3

Here is how he cites it:

Jesus says to the Father: This is life eternal, that they know You to be the only true God.
John 17:3

Here is the Douay Rheims translation:

Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent
[John 17:3]

Now, the problem is, English has a single verb "know" which can mean two very different things.

As Deen Academy mistranslates, it has "you to be" as object, namely the fact that is known.

The word "to be" doesn't appear in Greek, but doesn't actually need to.

Before I continue, I must admit my level in Greek has dropped significantly since 1993, when I ceased studying at the Classical Institute of Lund. But still, I think I can manage.

The problem is, that kind of object needs a kind of "verbum dicendi" (like "say", "claim", "propose" and so on). For "know" as "know a fact" this is not a problem. Like "savoir" in French.

However, the Greek has "gignosko" like "connaître" in French. However, it can also mean "experience" or "recognise" and have a kind of object about a fact, rather than a person.

Second, even so, it has to be a "verbum dicendi" which takes accusative with infinitive when presenting the fact that's known or in this case rather experienced or recognised. And the problem here is, in the sense it can relate to a fact, it seems NT Greek uses "hoti". The equivalent would be a verb that could never take "you to be" as object but only "that you are" ...

Mark 5:29
καὶ εὐθὺς ἐξηράνθη ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔγνω τῷ σώματι ὅτι ἴαται ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγος.
And forthwith the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the evil
[Mark 5:29]

This is how gignosko looks when related to a fact: hoti. (ὅτι).

This means that

ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ, τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν,

cannot mean, taking away the comma, "that they should know you to be" [="that you are"] et c. It must mean

"that they should come to know you, [you who are] the one true God"

The Israelites already knew that God was the one true God. Jesus is saying life eternal means, they actually have to get to know him.

But especially, Deen Academy pretends that Christians who consider Jesus as God are contradicting this. However, look at the context:

ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ, τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας, Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.

How come getting to know Jesus Christ is also necessary for eternal life, if He isn't God? Besides, Jesus considers Himself, and not a man from Mecca, as the one whom the Father had sent.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Abundius of Cordoba
11.VII.2026

Cordubae, in Hispania, sancti Abundii Presbyteri, qui, in persecutione Arabica, cum in Mahumetis sectam inveheretur, martyrio coronatus est.