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Greek Lessons
- Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek: Imperfective vs. Perfective
- Chiasmus, Inclusio, and Anaphora in New Testament Greek
- Numbered and Named: Genitive Constructions and Enumerated Tribes in Revelation 7:7
- Semantic Range of Greek Verbs in the New Testament: A Case Study on ἀγαπάω and φιλέω
- Released to Serve Anew: Aorist Passives, Participles, and the Tension of Transformation in Romans 7:6
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Category
Tag Archives: Luke 13:7
No Word Powerless: The Future Tense and the Certainty of Divine Speech in Luke 1:37
ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ πᾶν ῥῆμα.
The Unbreakable Word of God
Luke 1:37 is a declaration of invincible divine speech. Spoken by the angel Gabriel to Miryam (Mary), the statement is syntactically simple but theologically seismic: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Yet in Greek, the form and force of the words point us not merely to the general omnipotence of God, but to the unfailing efficacy of God’s ῥῆμα—His spoken word. This truth is not philosophical but grammatical: the key lies in a single future-tense verb and an absolute negation.
Grammatical Focus: Future Indicative of ἀδυνατέω with οὐκThe main verb ἀδυνατήσει is the future active indicative of ἀδυνατέω (“to be powerless, to be impossible”).… Learn Koine Greek
The Rhetoric of Rhetorical Questions: A Grammatical Rebuke in Luke 13:7
In εἶπε δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἀμπελουργόν· ἰδοὺ τρία ἔτη ἔρχομαι ζητῶν καρπὸν ἐν τῇ συκῇ ταύτῃ, καὶ οὐχ εὑρίσκω· ἔκκοψον αὐτήν· ἱνατί καὶ τὴν γῆν καταργεῖ; (Luke 13:7), Jesus tells a parable packed with urgency, disappointment, and judgment. But it is the final clause — ἱνατί καὶ τὴν γῆν καταργεῖ; — that brings a unique syntactic sting. This rhetorical question is not a request for information, but a judgment dressed as inquiry. Greek has a powerful way of embedding rebuke into grammar, and here, it wields the interrogative adverb ἱνατί like a blade. The syntax critiques the tree not just for its barrenness but for its burden — “Why should it even exhaust the soil?”… Learn Koine Greek
