[B-Greek] 1John 2:27 - Indicative or Imperative

Gary & Lynn O'Neal goneal at intop.net
Thu Sep 22 21:03:48 EDT 2005


> On Sep 22, 2005, at 9:41 AM, Gary & Lynn O'Neal wrote:
>
>> I have a question about the tense of MENETE in 1 John 2:27
>>
>> Grammatically, this could be either an Imperative or an Indicative.
>
> 1JOHN 2:27 KAI hUMEIS TO CRISMA hO ELABETE AP' AUTOU, MENEI EN hUMIN  KAI 
> OU CREIAN ECETE hINA TIS DIDASKHi hUMAS, ALL' hWS TO AUTOU CRISMA 
> DIDASKEI hUMAS PERI PANTWN KAI ALHQES ESTIN KAI OUK ESTIN YEUDOS, KAI 
> KAQWS EDIDAXEN hUMAS, MENETE EN AUTWi.
>
> This looks like the only place in the GNT where KAQWS is followed by  an 
> indicative which is followed by an imperative within the same  sentence. 
> Actually it appears to be the only place where KAQWS is  followed by an 
> imperative within the same sentence. Including some  other other 
> comparatives found in near by semantic domains didn't  produce any more 
> data. (e.g., KAQA, KAQWS, KAQO, KAQAPER, KAQWSPER,  hWSAUTWS, hWSPER, 
> hWSPEREI, hWS, hWSEI).
>
> The LXX had some examples see  KAQWS EPOIHSEN POIHSATE AUTHi below
>
> JER. 27:15 KATAKROTHSATE EP' AUTHN PARELUQHSAN hAI CEIRES AUTHS  EPESAN 
> hAI EPALXEIS AUTHS KAI KATESKAFH TO TEICOS AUTHS hOTI  EKDIKHSIS PARA QEOU 
> ESTIN EKDIKEITE EP' AUTHN KAQWS EPOIHSEN POIHSATE  AUTHi
>
> Elizabeth Kline
>

Elizabeth

Thanks for the reply. Let me see if I am understanding you correctly. 
Because the construction KAQWS + [indicative verb] + [imperative verb] is 
rare, does this make you lean toward seeing MENETE as an indicative?

Doesn't Phil. 2:12 fit the pattern on KAQWS + [indicative verb] + 
[imperative verb]?

hWSTE, AGAPHTOI MOU, KAQWS PANTOTE hUPHKOUSATE, MH hWS EN THi PAROUSIAi MOU 
MONON ALLA NUN POLLWi MALLON EN THi APOUSIAi MOU, META FOBOU KAI TROMOU THN 
hEAUTWN SWTHRIAN KATERGAZESQE.

Gary O'Neal




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