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Greek Lessons
- “What to Us and to You?”: Demonic Recognition and Eschatological Grammar in Matthew 8:29
- Whispers of Identity: From Prophets to Pronouns in Mark 8:28
- The Field of Blood: Passive Voice and Temporal Clauses in Matthew 27:8
- Declensions in the Storm: Case Usage in Matthew 8:26
- Testimony on the Road: Aorist Participles and Mission Grammar in Acts 8:25
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Category Archives: Grammar
“ὃ προεπηγγείλατο διὰ τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφαῖς ἁγίαις”: The Fore-Promised Gospel in Romans 1:2
Introduction: A Gospel Long Promised
Romans 1:1–2 begins Paul’s epistle with this phrase:
τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ… ὃ προεπηγγείλατο διὰ τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφαῖς ἁγίαις “the gospel of God… which He promised beforehand through His prophets in holy scriptures”
This relative clause establishes the continuity between the gospel and the Old Testament. It affirms that the good news was not invented in the New Testament era—it was foretold.
Let’s now analyze this beautifully structured clause from Romans 1:2, which Paul inserts immediately after mentioning “the gospel of God”:
ὃ προεπηγγείλατο διὰ τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφαῖς ἁγίαιςThis relative clause explains how the gospel was not a novelty, but part of God’s long-standing redemptive plan.… Learn Koine Greek
Future Indicative: Periphrastic Form of The Future
(1) PERIPHRASTIC FORM OF THE FUTURE. A Future tense composed of a Present Participle and the Future of the verb eivmi, is found occasionally in the New Testament. The force is that of a Progressive Future, with the thought of continuance or customariness somewhat emphasized.
Luke 5:10; ἀνθρώπους ἔσῃ ζωγρῶν, thou shalt catch men, i.e. shalt be a catcher of men.
Luke 21:24; Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἔσται πατουμένη, Jerusalem shall [continue to] be trodden under foot.
(2) Μέλλει with the Infinitive is also used with a force akin to that of the Future Indicative. It is usually employed of an action which one intends to do, or of that which is certain, destined to take place.… Learn Koine Greek
Posted in Grammar
Tagged Future Indicative, Periphrastic Form of The Future, Present Participle, Μέλλει
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Future Indicative: The Deliberative Future
(1) The Deliberative Future. The Future Indicative is sometimes used in questions of deliberation, asking not what will happen, but what can or ought to be done. Such questions may be real questions asking information, or rhetorical questions taking the place of a direct assertion. Cf. 169 under The Deliberative Subjunctive.
Luke 22:49; εἰ πατάξομεν ἐν μαχαίρῃ, shall we smite with the sword?
John 6:68; Κύριε, πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα, Lord, to whom shall we go?… Learn Koine Greek
Future Indicative: The Gnomic Future
(1) The Gnomic Future. The Future Indicative may be used to state what will customarily happen when occasion offers.
Rom. 5:7; μόλις γὰρ ὑπὲρ δικαίου τις ἀποθανεῖται, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. See also Gen. 44:15; Rom. 7:3, χρηματίσει. Observe the Gnomic Presents both before and after.
Future Indicative: The Imperative Future
(1) The Imperative Future. The second person of the Future Indicative is often used as an Imperative.
Jas. 2:8; Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
REMARK 1. This idiom as it occurs in the New Testament shows clearly the influence of the Septuagint. It occurs most frequently in prohibitions, its negative being, as also commonly in classical Greek, not μὴ, but οὐ.
REMARK 2. In Matt. 15:6 the verb timh,sei has the negative ouvmh.. Some interpreters take this as a Predictive Future, but the thought requires the Imperative sense, and in view of the frequent use of ouv mh.… Learn Koine Greek
Future Indicative: The Progressive Future
THE PROGRESSIVE FUTURE
(1) The Progressive Future affirms that an action will be in progress in future time.
Phil. 1:18; καὶ ἐν τούτῳ χαίρω ἀλλὰ καὶ χαρήσομαι, and therein I rejoice, yea, and will [continue to] rejoice. See also Rom. 6:2; Phil. 1:6; Rev. 9:6.
(2) It may be doubted whether any of the distinctions indicated by the subdivisions of the Predictive Future are justified from the point of view of pure grammar. It is probable, rather, that the tense in all these cases makes precisely the same affirmation respecting the event, viz, that it will take place; and that it is the context only that conveys the distinctions referred to.… Learn Koine Greek
Posted in Grammar
Tagged Deliberative Future, Future Indicative, Gnomic Future, Imperative Future, Progressive Future, χρηματίσει
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Future Indicative: The Aoristic Future
THE AORISTIC FUTURE
The Aoristic Future conceives of an action simply as an event, and affirms that it will take place in future time. It may be indefinite, inceptive, or resultative. As indefinite it may be momentary, comprehensive, or collective. Cf. THE AORIST INDICATIVE, The Historical Aorist (2).
1 Cor. 15:51, 52; πάντες οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα, 52 ἐν ἀτόμῳ, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ, we shall not all sleep [indefinite comprehensive]; or, we shall not all fall asleep [inceptive], but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye [indefinite momentary].
John 14:26; ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα καὶ ὑπομνήσει ὑμᾶς πάντα ἃ εἶπον, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said unto you [indefinite collective].… Learn Koine Greek
Future Indicative: The Predictive Future
THE PREDICTIVE FUTURE
The Future Indicative is most frequently used to affirm that an action is to take place in future time. Since it does not mark the distinction between action in progress and action conceived of indefinitely without reference to its progress, it may be either aoristic or progressive. … Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Disctinction Between The Aorist And The Imperfect
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE AORIST AND THE IMPERFECT
(1) The difference between an Historical Aorist and an Imperfect of action in progress or repeated being one not of the nature of the fact but of the speaker’s conception of the fact, it is evident that the same fact may be expressed by either tense or by both. This is illustrated in Mark 12:41 and 44, where, with strict appropriateness in both cases, Mark writes in v. 41, πολλοὶ πλούσιοι ἔβαλλον πολλά, and in v. 44 records Jesus as stating the same fact in the words πάντες . . . ἔβαλον. The former describes the scene in progress, the latter merely states the fact.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: English Equivalents Of The Greek Aorist Indicative
ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREEK AORIST INDICATIVE
(1) It should be observed that the Aorist for the Perfect and the Aorist for the Pluperfect are not variations from the normal use of the Greek Aorist. Viewed strictly from the point of view of Greek Grammar, these Aorists are simply Historical, Inceptive, or Resultative Aorists. The necessity for mentioning them arises merely from the difference between the English and the Greek idiom.
The Greek Aorist corresponds to the English simple Past (or Imperfect or Preterite, loved, heard, etc.) more nearly than to any other English tense. But it is not the precise equivalent of the English Past; nor is the Greek Perfect the precise equivalent of the English Perfect; nor the Greek Pluperfect of the English Pluperfect.… Learn Koine Greek
Posted in Grammar
Tagged ἀνέγνωτε, ἐβασίλευσας, ἐγένεσθε, ἔζησεν, Εἴδομεν, ἐκάθισαν, ἔμαθον, ἐπλουτήσατε, εὐδόκησεν, ἥμαρτον, καταβολῆς, κόσμου, κριθήσονται, νῦν, Οὐκ, πάντες, παράδοξα, πρὸ, προσεδέξατο, σήμερον
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