QUESTION
I have two questions on this verse.
1. John only mentions the word synagogue twice in his gospel and both times it is anarthous and in the same prepositional phrase (John 18:20). Robertson seems to say that John is using it as we would say, “in church.” Do you agree with this?
2. Could you remind me again the rule for translating an aorist indicative with a present participle?
John 6:59 GNT
59 Ταῦτα εἶπεν ἐν συναγωγῇ διδάσκων ἐν Καφαρναούμ.
These things he said in the synagogue while teaching in Capernaum.
RESPONSE
In general συναγωγῇ could refer to any gathering, including the sanhedrin (John 11:47), but probably in Capernaum it was referring to the Jewish synagogue building itself, whose foundations are preserved. Jesus gathered in the garden with his disciples (JN 18:2). In the other general reference I do not see any reason to confine it to the designated buildings because he spoke to them in many gatherings outside. The Christians had a synagogue (gathering place of assembly) in James, probably in Jerusalem.
The anarthrous object of preposition (OP) is not special and is not correlated with the meaning “in church.” A higher percentage of OP are anarthrous, and a higher percentage of subjects are articular.
The rule is that the tense of the circumstantial participle is relative to the head verb, not absolute. If the participle is present and the head verb is aorist, the participle is contemporary. “And he said in the synagogue while (he was) teaching in Capernaum.”
If the circumstantial participle is aorist, its time precedes the time of the head verb.
— Dennis Kenaga