From: Steven Lo Vullo (doulos@merr.com)
Date: Sat Jan 12 2002 - 17:10:40 EST
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On Saturday, January 12, 2002, at 12:49 PM, waldo slusher wrote:
>
> PAS hO PISTEUWN EIS AUTON MH APOLHTAI [John 3:16,
> partial]
>
>
> On page 522 in Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, by
> Daniel B. Wallace, he offers comments on this verse
>
> "In this Gospel, there seems to be a qualitative
> distinction between the ongoing act of believing and
> the simple fact of believing."
>
> If this statment accurately captures John the
> Apostle's intent, would we not expect to find MH
> APOLHTAI in a Future Tense? What I am asking is this:
> if John is saying the we are to be in the ongoing act
> of believing, then "not perishing" will be the
> subsequent outcome sometime in the future (after we
> demonstrate an ongoing believing)?
APOLHTAI is in the subjunctive mood, which has no future tense (only
present and aorist), since, strictly speaking, it has no absolute time
significance. The reason the subjunctive mood is used here is because
APOLHTAI (along with ECHi) is part of a purpose clause introduced by
hINA. This is the usual way of expressing purpose with a hINA clause,
though there are some examples of the future indicative used in a
purpose clause with hINA, though this is not common. Even though the
subjunctive mood has no future tense, it is, in a certain sense, future
oriented, since (to greatly oversimplify) it indicates possibility or
probability. For example, a purpose (as here) is future oriented. But I
don't think any of this either confirms or denies Dr. Wallace's view.
Ultimately, considerations beyond grammar will come into play in
deciding this issue. But I think it would be mistaken to conclude that
Dr. Wallace necessarily thinks "'not perishing' will be the subsequent
outcome sometime in the future (after we demonstrate an ongoing
believing)."
==========
Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI
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