[B-Greek] Indicative or Hortatory Subjunctive?
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Sat Aug 23 01:47:31 EDT 2008
On Aug 22, 2008, at 9:08 PM, Michael Lawson wrote:
> Hello List,
>
> I have a question about an exercise in J. Gresham Machen's "New
> Testament Greek for Beginners" concerning contract verbs. The
> example exercise is as follows:
>
> ἀγαπῶμεν τὸν θεὸν ἐν ταῖς
> καρδίαις ἡμῶν ἀγαπῶντες καὶ τοὺς
> ἀδελφούς.
>
> AGAPW~MEN TON QEON EN TAIS KARDIAIS HMWN AGAPWNTES KAI TOUS ADELFOUS.
>
> In the study guide for Machen, David Thompson asks, "Is AGAPW~MEN
> indicative or subjunctive?" My Answer: It can be both since the
> vowels for each case contract to omega with a circumflex accent. He
> further asks, "How would you settle the question here (whether the
> verb is indicative or subjunctive)?" My question: How does Thompson
> come to conclude that this verb is a hortatory subjunctive only? Is
> not an alternative translation using the present indicative for the
> verb worth mentioning?
>
> "Thompson's translation is: "Let us love (in continuing sense) God
> with/in our hearts, while loving (while we love) the brethren also."
>
> My Translation: "We love God in our hearts as we love the brethren
> also."
>
> Am I missing something? Thanks for your replies in advance.
>
> Michael Lawson
Can't help you with Machen or Thompson. The form in question is found
10 times in the Epistles of John. Just to see how big a problem it
would be to identify a hortatory subjunctive I printed the nine verses
on one page and marked them indicative, subjunctive and hortatory
subjunctive. Then I checked my results against Martin Culy's hand book
and I am pleased to report that Culy didn't make any errors :-) I will
not spoil your fun by giving the answers in advance. The passages are:
1John 3:11 1John 3:14 1John 3:18
1John 3:23 1John 4:7 1John 4:12
1John 4:19 1John 5:2 2John 5
Elizabeth Kline
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