[B-Greek] Imperfect in Col 3:18
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Mar 31 14:59:24 EST 2005
At 2:45 PM -0500 3/31/05, Jim West wrote:
>Carl noted,
>
>./ BDF has a note on this at §358: "The imperfect (without AN) in
>expressions of necessity, duty, possibility etc. denotes in classical
>something which is or was actually necessary, etc., but which does not
>or did not take place (cf. Latin). ... . (2) this usage is expanded in
>some cases in the NT where classical would more likely have used the
>present indicative for an assertion about present time (so that CRH,
>PROSHKEI etc. contain an unjunction): E 5:4 may e so understood hA OUK
>ANHKEN (DE al. TA OUK ANHKONTA) 'what is (really) not proper (but yet
>happens), cf. v. 3 KAQWS PREPEI." In note 2 Col 3:18 is given as an
>instance of this second usage. /
>
>
>I am not sure what Carl is trying to emphasize here- is he saying
>/*'what is (really) not proper (but yet happens),*/ is the case in Col
>3:18 (on analogy from Eph 5:4)? How can it be improper, from the
>perspective of the author of Colossians, to say that "wives should be
>subject to their husbands (even though this is not really proper but it
>happens anyway)? That hardly seems a correct exegetical movement.
>
>BDF point out in Secs 325 and 327 that the imperfect is used as an
>iterative imperfect (it happened often but was never completely carried
>out); and to portray the manner of the action (i.e., a past action is
>represented as being in progress). So far as I can tell, this is the
>natural, sensible and intelligible use the imperfect is put to in Col 3:18.
No, this is not an iterative imperfect. Rather §358 is noted by BDAG in the
entry on ANHKW with reference to Col 3:18. Note the text of the passage:
hAI GUNAIKES, hUPOTASSESQE TOIS ANDRASIN hWS ANHKEN EN KURIWi.
What BDF is indicated in the second part (2) of what I've cited is the
expression hWS ANHKEN originally carried the sense of a an imperfect with
AN in what is actually a counter-factual apodosis: "as would be
appropriate" and that in the Koine this expression continues to be used
where a present tense is more appropriate; thus hWS ANHKEN is commonly
Englished as "as is proper" although if the translator were a strict
"structural equivalence" person, he or she might have Englished it as "as
would be appropriate (if you were considering matters properly)." This is
just a matter of idiomatic usage.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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