[B-Greek] It will be done
John Sanders
john.franklin.sanders at gmail.com
Wed Jun 2 03:10:32 EDT 2010
I apologize, catching up on mail.
On May 20, 2010, at 11:45 AM, Steve Miller wrote:
> I'm very new at Greek, and I've been wrestling with GENHQHTW for a few
> days now. BDAG lists this as an imperative of GINOMAI. Fair enough. But
> the imperative doesn't really come across in any of the English
> translations I've looked at. I would have expected something more like
> "You believe, so be healed." Searching more, BDAG has an entry that
> specifically addresses this verse (bottom of p.197, under sense 4): "w.
> adv. or adv. phrase added.../according to your faith let it be done to
> you/, i.e. /you believe, and you won't be disappointed./ The phrase
> "won't be disappointed" was completely unexpected. Can anyone shed some
> light on this?
Matt. 9:29 τότε ἥψατο τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν λέγων· κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν
γενηθήτω ὑμῖν.
Matt. 9:29 TOTE hHYATO TWN OFQALMWN AUTWN LEGWN· KATA THN PISTIN hUMWN
GENHQHTW hUMIN.
The third person imperative would have been more intelligible to native
English speakers in past centuries when the language was still under the
pervasive influence of the standard English bible. We don't talk that way
today.
I am not sure about this but it seems like the third person imperative here
is functioning as a performative. In other words, by speaking the words
Jesus is healing the man. The narrative implies that Jesus has the authority
to speak the words and affect a healing. I don't think the touching here is
anything more than symbolic.
Elizabeth Kline
[JFS]
Elizabeth has answered well, but if I may, I would like to add just a wee
bit of commentary. It has been said on this list that outside reading
improves one's Greek. Well, I will let it be tested with my outside
reading. I use Euclid as my source of reading for this demonstration
because Euclid uses the third person imperative often, although much of that
offen-ness is repetitive.
For my own purposes I break down the parts of a command (command, request,
etc., I will just lable as command) into four: source, agent, command,
complement or recipient of the command.
For the second person imperative (I will use an English example):
You will go to school.
The source may be unidentified. If it is identified, it is not emphasized.
In this example, the source may be your mother, the law, or even yourself as
you look at your reflection in the mirror.
The agent in the second person is you, either singular or plural.
The complement is "to school". If mentioned, it is usually in an oblique
case.
To my mind, the imperative marks "agency", or the "lack of agency" on the
part of the agent.
Moving to the third person imperative, Greek marks this with the imperative
mood, English does not mark it with a separate mood.
So, going back to Texas, I turn on the telly and I hear that the AG is
saying, "he will be executed tomorrow". Here, the source is not spedified
(but I would assume it is the law), the agent is not specified (but I
presume it is the State). The command is specified and so is the complement
or recipient of the command-here and quite often so it is the subject or
topic of the phrase.
If this was in the second person, I would expect something such as "You will
execute him tomorrow".
So, given that as the basis of my analysis, let me attempt to answer your
question. I presume you are not asking for some psycho-analytical answer,
but one that is rooted in the difference in Greek and English grammar.
As Elizabeth wrote, we do not talk that way (that is, we do not
mark commands in the third person). Therefore to convey the idea in English
of the Greek third person imperative, we need some device in English to give
us that effect. Before, it was often the word "let" preceeding the phrase.
"Let him be executed tomorrow". For us today it almost sounds as if it was
a request for permission to do the command.
Anyway, it would appear to me that the phrase " won't be disappointed" is a
clumsy way of indicating that the command is not one of "free agency" by the
agent, but is one of command (either by force or by obligation) and that the
agent in this case, by conforming to the command, will see the benefits.
Anyway, that is my clumsy way of trying to say that since English does not
mark third person imperatives, if one wishes to mark it in an English gloss,
they must do so by means of adding something in context that hopefully will
indicate said third person imperative.
John Sandedrs
Suzhou, China
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