Re: MH + Pres Imper

Dale M. Wheeler (dalemw@teleport.com)
Fri, 29 May 1998 16:55:02 -0700

clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:
>
>I was going back over Acts 11 this morning and ran into MH KOINOU in 11:9 and
>wondered why not an aorist subjunctive? I looked in Smyth (#1835-41) and BDF
>(427.4) and Porter (Ch 13. 1.1.2). I did not find a stated reason why a
>speaker/writer might choose to use MH + Pres Imper rather than MH + Aorist
>Subjunctive.
>
>Porter (p 221, bottom) says "In most contexts , translations of of negated
>imperatives and negated subjunctives used as prohibitions can be virtually
identical."
>
>My response to this is, who cares if the English translations are identical.
>The question is what did the distinction between these two forms of
>prohibitions amount to in K. Greek. Do we know? Is one form of prohibition
>more emphatic than the other? Are the really identical idioms?
>
>"It is the commonest grammatical vice for one to make a conjectural
>translation into English and then to discuss the syntactical propriety of the
>Greek tense on the basis of this translation . . . "
>A.T. Robertson (p.821)
>

IMHO, Fanning has the best discussion of the use of the Imp'v, and as he
points out MH + Pres Imp'v can have two basic functions:

1) "Stop doing... (this action presently occurring)!"
a) Normal Construction: MH + Present Imperative: John 6:43 (NIV)
b) Alternate Construction: MH + Aorist Subjunctive: John 3:7

2) "Make it your habit not to do...!":
a) Normal Construction: MH + Present Imperative: Mark 13:21 (NASB)
b) Alternate Construction: MH + Aorist Imperative (in 1 of its 8
occurrences in NT):
Matt 6:3

Either one makes perfect sense in Acts 11:9:

NASB: "...no longer consider unholy."
NRSV: "...you must not call profane."

...though, because I don't believe in non-intentional ambiguity, I'm
inclined to read the passage as the NASB does.

XAIREIN...

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Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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