Re: Mark 11:22 EXETE PISTIN QEOU

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 25 1998 - 11:43:49 EDT


At 3:51 AM -0500 8/25/98, Steve Long wrote:
>>
>>Yep, it leaves lots of room for eisegesis! Actually there's mystery enough
>>there; I wonder, however, if anybody has been looking at the context of
>>this imperative: it follows immediately upon the prayer in which Jesus
>>curses the fig tree that is in leaf but bears no fruit ... and soon after
>>the fig tree is shown to be blasted! Personally, I would understand the
>>fig-tree elements as symbolic of the destruction of Jerusalem, but the
>>pericope on efficacious prayer is pretty clearly positioned by the
>>evangelist to follow upon the curse upon the fig tree, and that makes it
>>the more enigmatic, as George, with somewhat different intent, I think,
>>says. I also still think that QEOU has to be understood as an objective
>>genitive and that ECETE here means "continue to grasp firmly, keep holding
>>tight (your faith in God)."
>>
>
>So you're saying that ECETE has both the indicative and imperative sense
>here? I never really had a problem understanding the genitive as
>objective/possessive/qualitative because I saw it as faith that has it
>source with God's character. My problem was with the imperative because
>faith is genitive of God, it starts with Him. I like the idea of "continue
>to grasp" or "keep holding tight", but I wonder if we're starting to move
>toward an interpretation that would have required a perfect verb tense.

No, I definitely understand this as a present imperative 2 pl.: continue!

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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