[B-Greek] Present imperative in Matt. 7:1

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Tue Dec 8 21:30:57 EST 2009


Let's try that again.  I don't know why the post was truncated.
2. Aorist Imperative or Prohibitive Subjunctive
(
(
But there are exceptions to what seems a fairly definite principle: Jn 3:7 has 
3. Difference in 
Ac 12:8 put your cloak on 
To Moulton the general agreement of Mt and Lk in the use of tense in their parallel passages showed "how delicately thep 78 distinction of tenses was observed"1. That is not the only possible conclusion to be drawn, and Moulton seems to many today to be a little over confident in the rules of Before the prohibitive aor. subjunctive we often find in the NT 
The prohibitive aor. imperative is later than the NT: Horn quotes the first as iii/a.d.
MHT iii. 76-78
 george
gfsomsel 


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learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
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----- Original Message ----
From: Louis Sorenson <llsorenson at hotmail.com>
To: bluemeeksbay at yahoo.com; Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>; B-Greek List mail to all <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tue, December 8, 2009 7:00:21 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Present imperative in Matt. 7:1




Martin M. Culy in I, II, III John: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament)
http://www.amazon.com/II-III-John-Handbook-Testament/dp/1932792082/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260323408&sr=8-2
has an analysis of imperatives in Chapter 1 or 2 . (A Student has confiscated by book, so I cannot look at it.)
If I remember correctly, he says that of about 400+ present imperatives in the New testament, 250 show 
the idea of "stop doing something" and 150 do not have that idea/aspect. Perhaps someone can post that portion
of Culy's Text. Culy's point is that you cannot make the statement (propounded by Moulton?) that the
present imperative + MH = "Stop Doing Something" and the Aorist Imperative + MH = "Don't Start doing something."

Louis Sorenson

---Iver Larson's Email as follows----------------------



> Thank you Dr. Conrad -
> 
> Your answer made me wonder if, perhaps, this was an idiomatic expression of which we are not aware, and, therefore, in this case, should not be open to such literal scrutiny. Therefore, your suggestion ?Don?t be judgmental? would be spot on.
> 
> B.Harris

The basic distinction between the present and aorist imperative is a matter of aspect with the present indicating imperfective aspect and the aorist perfective aspect. So, if we study what these different aspects mean, we have come a long way.

Imperfective aspect can refer to several things, such as a continuing or prolonged action or a repeated action. Perfective aspect see the event as completed whole and often as a single action, not to be repeated.

So, in Matt 7:1 "Don't be judgmental" covers the imperfective aspect well. One might also say: "Don't go around judging people". It is questionable to translate with "Stop judging".

There is a correlation between imperfective and plurality of subjects or objects.

When I did a count of second person singular and plural imperatives in the NT, I got the following numbers (not counting some subjunctive aorists and futures functioning as imperatives):

2nd person singular:? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2nd person plural:
present imperatives: 262? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 468
aorist imperatives: 371? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 325

Why are present imperatives much more common in plural? My suggestion is that when several people are doing the same action, it often comes under the concept of repeated action.

But there might be other reasons. It could be because most of the general commands in the NT are directed to a group of people, and general commands are normally in the present tense. It would be interesting to do similar counts outside the NT.

A negated present tense command may indicate the stopping of a continuous, prolonged or repeated action, but it would be too simplistic to say that it always does. It can also mean "Do not continually or repeatedly do X". As always, it is the context that may clarify the intended nuance of meaning.

Iver Larsen
                          
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α) Positive. Important for exegesis is the aor. imper. in 1 Co 7:21 μᾶλλον χρῆσαι; the Corinthian Christians are urged to make use once and for all of the opportunity to be free; only with a pres. imper. ought the interpretation to be use your present state to the glory of God. Mt’s χαίρετεin 5:12 is altered by Luke to aor. because he adds in that day. Mt 5:42 δόςof a definite occasion and person, where Lk 6:30 δίδουto anyone who asks. Mt 6:28 καταμάθετεis a command now, once and for all, to look at the lilies, probably during a walk in the fields, Lk. 9:23 ἀρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ(aor.) καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι(pres.); the self-denying is a decision, once and for all (om. the harmonizing vl. καθʼ ἡμεραν), but the following is a continuous discipline. 12:58 δός ἐργασίαν. 19:30 λύσαντες αὐτὸν
 ἀγάγετε. 14:23 ἔξελθε. Jn 2:19 λύσατε. 4:16. 35. Ro 13:13 now let us walk περιπατήσωμεν. Jas 4:9 start to be wretched and mourn and weep ταλαιπωρήσατε πενθήσατε κλαύσατε, 10 start to humble yourselvesp 77 ταπεινώθητε, 5:7. 8 be patient (as a precept) μακροθυμήσατε. Mt 26:48 κρατήσατεarrest him! (but 2 Th 2:15 κρατεῖτεgo on preserving; Rev 2:25 aor. misused). Aoriste for precepts until the coming of Christ: Mt 5:39 στρέψον, 6:6, 1 Ti 6:12. 14. 20, 2 Ti 4:2. 5 1:14 2:2. 3. 15. 1 pt 1:13. 17. 22 2:17 5:2, 1 Jn 5:21, 2 Cl 8:6. Prayer: Mt 6:10 δός(aor. because Mt adds this day) Lk 11:3 δίδουcontinue to give because day by day is added (SD harm. with Mt); aor. in all petitions of Lord’s Prayer (ἁγιασθήτω γενηθήτω δός ἄφες), and in prayer in papyri (Mayser II 1, 145f). Greetings: ἀσπάσασθε, but also
 pres. in papyri, against NT usage.β) Negative. Mt 5:17 μὴ νομίσητεnever think! 6:2 μὴ σαλπίσῃςnever sound! Categorical prohibitions: Mt 7:6 μὴ δῶτε, 6:34 μὴ μεριμνήσητε, Jn 3:7 μὴ θαυμάσῃς. In 3rd. pers. prohibitions occur in aor. imper. and occasionally in the form μή τιςwith aor. subjunctive: 1 Co 16:11 2 Co 11:16 2 Th 2:3.μὴ θαυμάσῃς, which sounds unnatural as cease to marvel (but perhaps like our Never marvel!). In Mt 1:20 10:26 we expect stop fearing (pres.) instead of μὴ φοβηθῇςand pl.=never fear. We have some aorists too in prayer to the deity: Mt 6:13 Lk 11:4 μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς, Ac 7:60 μὴ στήσῃς, but a suggested reason has already been given. In general, some writers prefer the pres. (Paul) and others the aor. (1 Pt) imper.Aktionsartis best seen when both tenses lie together.περιβαλοῦ(punctiliar) and keep behind me
 ἀκολούθει(linear). Jn 5:8 ἆρον(ingressive) … καὶ περιπάτει(linear), 9:7 ὕπαγε(exclam. and invariable) καὶ νίψαι, 2:5–8 φέρετεalongside ποιήσατε γεμίσατε ἀντλήσατε(see above for invariable φέρετε), 2:16 ἄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθενget these things out of here! μὴ ποιεῖτεstop making.… Ro 6:13 do not continue παριστάνετε, but once and for all παραστήσατε. Mt 26:38 Mk 14:34 do not go away μείνατε ὧδε(constative), but continue to watch γρηγορεῖτε, Lk 10:4 cease carrying μὴ βαστάζετε, never salute ἀσπάσησθε, 17:8 ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσωget something ready, περιζωσάμενος διακόνει μοιcontinue to wait. P. Petr. II 40(a) 12 μὴ ὀλιγοψυχήσητεstop being faint-hearted, ἀλλʼ ἀνδρίζεσθεcontinue to be brave (223
 b.c.).Aktionsart2ὅρα ὅρατε βλέπετε, which do not, however, affect the construction: Mt 8:4 18:10 Mk 1:44 1 Th 5:15. . There is a case for Luke having known Mt and having followed his use of tenses. In any case the NT use of tenses is not so strikingly standardized or logical.


      



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