From: Carlton Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Date: Sun Sep 20 1998 - 06:33:45 EDT
Byron P. Knutson wrote;
>If I might be so bold as to add my 2 cents.
>
>When ever the subjunctive is used, the first thing you know is that there is
>an element of doubt introduced.
>
>1. It may be the certainty of the thing referred to.
>or
>2. If not the certainty of the thing or event, then the time of it is in
>question.
>
>In this case the death of those disciples who would see this event was not
>in question. They would die. They would not certainly die, however, until
>after they saw the Lord coming in His kingdom. They would definitely see
>the Lord coming in His kingdom, but the time of that event was in question
>(thus the 2nd subjunctive). The first subjunctive, as I see it, is
>questioning the time of their death after the certain event of seeing the
>Lord come in His kingdom. That is, they would die after that, but when
>after that only God knew. Otherwise, it might be inferred that the first
>event having taken place the second would immediately follow right upon its
>heels rather than living on for many years after that before they died.
>
I would disagree with one statement points 1. and 2. in the context of this
statement. There is no doubt (contingency) in the phrase hOITINES OU MH
GEUSWNTAI . . . It is a strong statement about the future, "who will
certainly not taste . . . The second clause introduced by hEWS AN has the
subjunctive and does indicate contingency about when they see. . . The
first subjunctive is not talking about when but about the negative fact,
hence no contingency in the first. The structure with OU MH + subjunctive
is a common way of making a statement of what will certainly not happen.
Carlton L. Winbery
Fogleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
Pineville, LA 71359
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu
--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:01 EDT