[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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