Re: John 21:19/21 APOLOUQEI

From: Jim West (jwest@highland.net)
Date: Tue May 26 1998 - 11:33:18 EDT


At 08:13 AM 5/26/98 -0700, you wrote:
>B-Greekers ~
>
>Now my reading of this passage takes very kindly to the indicative
>mood, and what I would like to know is HOW the mood is determined in
>this passage. Is the imperative grammatically mandated? Or is it
>simply VERY generally understood as an imperative?
>
>George Blaisdell
>

George, (and the rest)
I hate to sound like a harpie in the midst of the forest, always singing the
same horrid tune- but CONTEXT alone determines whether a verb is imperative,
indicative, etc whenever the form is the same. As we all know, there are
several verbal forms in greek that are ambiguous. This ambiguity cannot be
clarified by mere form. Thus, again, CONTEXT is everything.

Concerning the call narratives, I suppose that they are, indeed,
imperatives. Why? Because, on the analogy of the call of the Hebrew
prophets, one would expect God to call in the imperative rather than the
indicative. In Hebrew, the call narratives are imperative. In Greek, they
are imperative or indicative- but should most likely be taken as imperative.

Best,

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest@highland.net



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