[B-Greek] Syntax relating to Subj. Protasis/Apodosis Clauses.

Steven Lo Vullo slovullo at mac.com
Sat Oct 25 19:45:27 EDT 2003


On Oct 25, 2003, at 5:57 PM, Glenn wrote:

> Studying on the uses of the subjunctive I come across the rule for a
> "Probable Future Condition". It is as follows:
>
> "Probable future conditions are expressed by EAV with the subjunctive 
> in the
> protasis and the future indicative in the apodosis."
>
> My grammar then gives Hebrews 6:3 as an example: KAI TOUTO POIHSOMEN 
> EAN
> EPITREPH hO QEOS.
>
> Am I right in understanding that this means the "if... then" sequence 
> of
> Greek isn't held to word order (clause order)? It took me forever to 
> come to
> this conclusion, but POIHSOMEN can't be subjunctive, and EAN is in the
> second "part" of the syntax. What I'm asking is can the Greek syntax 
> look
> like "then...if" rather than "if...then"? If so, is that what's 
> happening
> here in Hebrews 6:3.

Hi Glenn:

Though **logically** we think of the protasis as prior to the 
apododsis, **syntactically** this is not necessary in Greek--nor in 
English, for that matter. In Heb 6.3, it seems to me quite natural for 
the apodosis to come first, with TOUTO forming a bride between it's 
antecedent with the condition upon which the performance of the 
antecedent is dependent.
============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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