[B-Greek] LABETE in John 20:22

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Jan 23 22:19:00 EST 2007


On Jan 23, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Bert de Haan wrote:

>
>
>
> John 20:22 reads:
> KAI TOUTO EIPWN ENEFUSHSEN KAI LEGEI AUTOIS, LABETE  PNEUMA hAION.
>
>
> I am trying to understand the force of the imperative LABETE.
> Jesus breathing on them I would think is a sign of them receiving  
> the Holy Spirit yet he commands them to receive the Holy Spirit.
> Is the imperative “LABETE” much more than a pronouncement?
> Wallace in GGBB on page 492 has a section on pronouncement  
> imperatives.
> He says:
>  “Occasionally an imperative in the passive voice is the equivalent  
> of a statement that is fulfilled at the moment of speaking. Such  
> usage is reserved for passives that cannot be fulfilled by the  
> recipient of the imperative.  On the surface, it looks like a  
> command, but its nature is such that it cannot be obeyed by the  
> recipient and yet it comes true at the moment it is uttered.”
> An example he gives is KAQARISQHTI in Mark 1:41.  “Be cleansed.”
>
> The way I understand verse 22, all this seems to fit except the  
> passive voice of the verb.
> LAMBANW in the passive voice does not make sense here but “receive”  
> can have a bit of a passive sense compared to the active  “take.”
> Is it safe to say that this is a pronouncement?

NO: LABETE is 2 pl. aorist ACTIVE imperative (the passive, if there  
were one, would  be LH(M)FQHTI -- but in fact, there is not a single  
passive form of the uncompounded LAMBANW in the GNT.


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





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