[B-Greek] 3rd class conditional sentences

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon Jan 9 13:33:18 EST 2006


On Jan 9, 2006, at 1:01 PM, Robb Wallace wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Is there any way to determine the certainty level (from likely to  
> certain)
> of the apodosis in a 3rd class conditional sentence beyond simply  
> looking at
> the context? I’ve been studying 1 John and in verses like 1 Jn 1:9  
> it seems
> like the apodosis would have to be certain, i.e. He will with  
> certainty
> forgive and cleanse when we confess our sins. Anything less than  
> certainty
> would weaken the promise where God may not forgive and cleanse. But  
> this is
> a 3rd class where the verbs in the apodosis are subjunctive, which  
> to my
> understanding would indicate a future that probably will happen but  
> is not
> certain. Wouldn’t it have been better Greek to have the verbs in the
> apodosis future indicative to show certainty?

In fact the verbs belonging to the condition itself are indicative:

Text: 1 John 1:9 EAN hOMOLOGWMEN TAS hAMARTIAS hHMWN, PISTOS ESTIN  
KAI DIKAIOS, hINA AFHi hHMIN TAS hAMARTIAS KAI KAQARISHi hHMAS APO  
PASHS ADIKIAS.

You should note that the verbs AFHi and KAQARISHi fall within a hINA  
clause which is epexegetic (functioning much as an infinitive) to the  
adjectives PISTOS and DIKAIOS. One could, I suppose, argue that the  
hINA clause is a result clause: the forgiving and cleansing are  
consequences of his faithfulness and righteousness.

I do think that this statement is intended by its author to give  
assurance about God's response to confession and repentance, but I  
don't think I'd try to entangle the certainty of a promise with the  
logical implications of what is a generalizing conditional clause,  
even if you want to read it as "If X, then (always) Y."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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