[B-Greek] Use of Imperatives in I Peter 1:13

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Sep 22 19:35:33 EDT 2006


Dear Joe,

Thanks for the pagination.


> Two questions.  Wallace lists some criteria to check for including that the participle(s)
are in the aorist.  ANAZWSAMENOI is but NHPHONTES 
is not (it is a present participle).
How does this affect the determination.  He seems 
to indicate that these are general rules,
not strict.

HH: Right. I don't think the present participle, 
even if it is rare, changes the category. Look at 
his example from Heb 12:1 on p. 644, which also 
has a present participle.


> Secondly, he points to the need to first determine whether the participles would make sense
  if assigned another way.  I cannot see one, but 
Grudem and Stibbs both treat them simply
  as participles, creating three separate commands.

HH: They function the way Wallace says participles 
of attendant circumstance work. See, again, his 
examples on pages 643-644: Mt 9:13, 18b; 28:7; Lk 
5:14; 16:6;17:19; Acts 10:13; 16:9.

HH: You could look at the present participle as 
manner, I suppose, showing the way one is when he 
girds up the loins of his mind, but it seems 
overly fine as a distinction. Remember, these are 
only English categories. They do not exist in 
Greek really. And as Wallace says, you analyze on 
the basis of the sense, not the English 
translation (p. 640, paragraph on Clarification). 
So the fact that an English translation uses an 
imperative does not mean that we cannot evaluate 
it as a participle of attendant circumstance. See 
the translations he gives for his own examples 
that I just listed. They are usually translated as 
imperatives.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard



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