96 Trent A. Rogers in dividing the text into manageable units. The absence of οὖν from the Prologue and its near absence from the Farewell Discourse alerts us to its patterned use in narrative rather than discourse. Moreover, a comparison between the Gospel and the Johannine Epistles shows a remarkable dif- ference that is also likely attributable to genre. Because the Epistles are not narratival or dialogical, it is not surprising to find a near absence of οὖν88. The only occurrence is in 3 John 8 and is inferential; when οὖν ap- pears in discourse in the Gospel, it is always inferential. I do not wish to make arguments concerning authorship, but since most scholars consider the Johannine Epistles and Gospel to share some common roots, it is noteworthy that their syntactical use is not divergent when one accounts for the preference of οὖν in narrative and dialogue. In the Gospel, οὖν oc- curs frequently in chs. 11, 19, and 20 which have primarily narrative and dialogue although οὖν is also frequent in ch. 6 which contains discourse; οὖν, however, does not occur in the discourse portions of ch. 6. In these discourses, we can note a few trends. Asyndeton remains a common device, and coordinating conjunctions such as καί and ἀλλά oc- cur more frequently. As expected with the presence of pronouncements, more sentences are introduced by ἀμήν and ἰδού. Somewhat less frequent is δέ. This diminished use of δέ is likely explainable by the absence of δέ being used to indicate a change of speaker and its absence in con- nection with οὖν. Also to be noted is the increased use of conditional sentences and καθώς. There are, however, a few occurrences of οὖν in the discourse material of John: 3:29, 8:36, 38, 12:50, 13:14, 16:22. What is remarkable is that five of the six occurrences of οὖν in discourse function in comparisons while 8:36 is an example of the deductive use. John 3:29, 8:38, 13:14, and 16:22 are instances of the comparative use of οὖν that are covered above. John 12:50 is a complex although brief sentence. The disjunctive word order, correlative conjunctions, and relative pronoun densely combine to express a rather straightforward thought: και οιδα οτι η εντολη αυτου ζωη αιωνιος εστιν α ουν εγω λαλω καθως ειρηκεν μοι ο πατηρ ουτω λαλω89. Although I might wish that οὖν functioned comparatively here, the comparison is carried by καθώς … οὕτως and is between the words of the Father and the words of the Son. The function of οὖν, however, is to show the connection between Jesus’ knowledge about 88 See Poythress, “Testing for Johanning Authorship”, 365-6. For a similar analysis of the Book of Revelation, see V. S. Poythress, “Johannine Authorship and the Use of Intersen- tence Conjunctions in the Book of Revelation”, WTJ 47 (1985) 329-36. 89 “‘And I know that his commandment is [i.e. obedience to his commandments brings or results in] eternal life. Therefore I speak the things that I speak just as my Father has spoken to me’”.