[B-Greek] Imperative Mood

WFWarren at aol.com WFWarren at aol.com
Mon Apr 5 09:54:35 EDT 2004


> --- Eddie Mishoe <edmishoe at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > In that the Imperative Mood is not a part of the
> > Indicative system, grammarians almost universally
> > assert that "it is unrelated to time." However, can
> > we
> > even conceive of an Imperative statement that is not
> > by definition FUTURE referring.?
> 
While not giving all of the nuances that could be expressed, I'm reminded of 
an explanation of both the subjunctive and the imperative that a Costa Rican 
Spanish teacher gave on these moods for Spanish, but that seems quite helpful 
for Greek as well.   The subjunctive was the mood about potential reality that 
was not yet realized, exemplified by a question mark in the mind of the 
speaker/writer.   The imperative was related to the attempt to impose one's will on 
another (thus the lack of need for a 1st person imperative), exemplified by an 
exclamation point in the mind of the speaker/writer.   Of course, some 
imperatives are less harsh than others, with some being more wishes than commands.   


While oversimplified, I still find these two explanations helpful for 
students.   The future indicative would be close to the subjunctive in that the 
referent is not yet realized, but the expectation would be that it would be 
realized with substantial assurance.   Obviously the closeness of these two explains 
why they (future indicative and aorist subjunctive) are interchanged in many 
Greek manuscripts of the NT as well as in other settings (and of course the 
difference at times of simply an accent mark makes the distinction even more 
difficult to ascertain in some instances).   

paz,

Bill Warren
Director of the Center for New Testament Textual Studies
Landrum P. Leavell, II, Professor of New Testament and Greek
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary




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