[b-greek] Re: A question on Philippians 4

From: Jonathan Robie (Jonathan.Robie@SoftwareAG-USA.com)
Date: Wed Jul 25 2001 - 10:33:19 EDT


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At 06:11 PM 7/25/2001 +0100, Peter Osborne. wrote:
>Hi,
>a question on Philippians 4:5:
>
>it states - ...TO EPIEIKES hUMWN GNWSQHTW PASIN ANQRWPOIS.
>
>I'm a novice, so I hope I've got the characters right !
>
>As far as I can establish GNWSQHTW is aorist, passive, imperative, second
>person, plural.

"You (plural) let it be known" captures most of this, but not the
distinction between aorist imperative and present imperative. The present
imperative would imply an ongoing or habitual activity. The aorist
imperative implies something that should be done as a simple action.

I do not think this should be overinterpreted in this case - I think verse
5 says we should let our forbearance and patience be known, without
specifically saying that we must do this continually. My guess is we
probably should, but my reasons for believing that are not contained in the
specific verbal form.

In verse 6, I think that the present imperative definitely does indicate a
continual, ongoing activity.

I simply do not know whether this is a general rule - is the present
imperative more "marked" than the aorist imperative?

Jonathan


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