John 13:34 - A hINA Clause with the force of an imperative?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Dec 22 16:18:44 EST 1999


At 2:52 PM -0500 12/22/99, Bret Hicks wrote:
>Fellow B-greekers,
>
>    I am studying John 13:34-35 this week and I am a little confused by
>the hINA clause in the second part of the verse.  It reads:
>
>KAQWS HGAPHSA hUMAS hINA KAI hUMEIS AGAPATE ALLHLOUS
>
>My question regards the force of the hINA clause.  Normally they would
>indicate purpose or result.  In that case, the meaning would seem to be:
>
>"just as I have loved you, in order that you might love one another."
>
>    In researching this, I noted that Brooks and Winbery (page 124) note
>that hINA clauses can act as imperative clauses, which seems to be how
>the NIV reads the cluase, since they translate it as "as I have loved
>you, so you must love one another."  This also seems to be how a similar
>clause is used in John 15:12.
>
>    How often are hINA clauses used with the force of an imperative?  Is
>this a case of a hINA clause being used with the force of an imperative,
>or is it better to read it as a purpose/result statement?  Any help
>would be greatly appreciated!

Although one might call this an indirect command, it really is a noun
clause, as are quite a few hINA + subjunctive clauses in Koine (= NA +
subjunctive in Modern Greek); here I'd understand it as appositional to
ENTOLHN: ENTOLHN KAINHN DIDWMI hUMIN, hINA AGAPATE ALLHLOUS: "I give you a
new charge, that you love each other." Actually the Modern Greek NA + Subj.
clause functions as an infinitive, and the hINA clause here could as well
be conveyed as one: "I give you a new charge: to love each other."


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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