Re: 2 Tim 2:25 2nd try.......

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Sat, 25 Jan 1997 06:19:04 -0600

At 12:49 AM -0600 1/25/97, Tom Launder wrote:
>2nd attempt.... :)
>
>Hi all,
>
>I have a question about 2 Tim 2:25
>
> MhPOTE DWh AUTOIS O QEOS METANOIAN. . .
>
>The mhpote is what I am having a hard time understanding. BAGD 519 3B
>defines this as an interrogative particle "whether, perhaps." Does this
>particle then make the clause dependent? Right now I have this clause
>dependent upon the participle "paideuonta."
>        |
>        |____PAIDEUONTA____
>                    /
>                   /
>                  / MhPOTE
>                 /
>            |   /
> ____QEOS___|____DWh______|___METANOIAN__
>       O    |
>
>Is this correct? I think so, but it is the subjunctive DWHi as much as MHPOTE that makes the clause dependent. I think the sense of MHPOTE here is to introduce what is formally an indirect question: "whether or not God might grant them repentance to recognition of truth"; but the indirect question in this instance assumes the implicit sense: "in hopes that perhaps God may grant them ..." That is to say: what in form is an indirect question (by virtue of the conjunction MHPOTE) becomes a sort of purpose clause. To me one of the most fascinating things about Hellenistic Greek is the way classical types of subordinate clause assume new syntactic functions. Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics, Washington University One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130 (314) 935-4018 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/