At 9:03 AM -0400 7/30/97, Carl W. Conrad wrote: >What we have here is a present general condition; despite the fact that it >is called "present," it neverthless refers only to the future, and >specifically to any future circumstance in which the "individual leader or >the church leadership corporately" may bind or loose X on earth. My apologies for misstatement. This is what in the classical grammatical tradition is called a "Future More Vivid" rather than a "Present General" Condition: the Protasis envisions any conceivable occurrence of an action or event which will necessarily entail the consequence indicated in the Apodosis, which is normally in the Future Tense (Smyth says--#2323, 2326--"or any noyher form referring to future time."), Addendum: I've been endeavoring to do what I ought to have done when Paul Dixon first raised the question about these Future Perfects, namely, to consult the grammars regarding the sense of the future perfect. Curiously, I don't find that either BDF or Wallace recognize even the existence of the Future Perfect Tense (although I'll grant that there may be some discussion of it that I've missed). However, Smyth, albeit briefly, discusses the Future Perfect and its syntax in ##1955-1958). I cite what seem to me the more significant points: #1955: "The future perfect denotes a future state resulting from a completed action: ANAGEGRAYOMAI 'I shall stand enrolled,' DEDHSETAI 'he shall be kept inprison; hH QURA KEKLHiSETAI 'the door will be kept shut.'" #1956: "When stress is laid upon complete fulfilment, the future perfectmay imply rapidity, immediate consequence, or certainty, of action accomplished in the future: FRAZE, KAI PEPRAXETAI 'speak, and it shall be done instanter' Aristophanes, Pl. 1027, EUQUS ARIAIOS AFSTHXEI: hWSTE FILOS hHMIN OUDEIS LELEIYETAI 'Ariaeus will soon withdraw, so that we shall have no friend left' 'Xen. Anabasis 2.4.5." #1957: "The future perfect may have an imperative force (1917): EIRHSETAI GAR T'ALHQES 'for the truth shall (let it) be spoken' Isocrates 1.7.76.' Ithink one of the neatest features of Smyth is his translations. Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics/Washington University One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018 Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/