Grace Theological Journal 10.2 (1989) 225-239.
[Copyright © 1989 Grace
Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
NOUN CLAUSES
IN THE
GREEK NEW TESTAMENT:
A STATISTICAL
STUDY
JAMES L. BOYER
This second in a series of studies dealing with
subordinate clauses
in the Greek NT will look at noun clauses which are introduced
by
conjunctions. They will be classified as to the function they fill in
the sentence and statistical counts will be given for each
group. The
structure of the noun clauses will be explored, summarizing the
conjunctions used and the moods employed with each. Alternative
forms of noun clauses will be examined.
*
* *
INTRODUCTION
SUBORDINATE
clauses in the Greek NT structurally are of two main
groups, those introduced by relative words and those
introduced
by conjunctions. We have previously looked at the
relative clauses1
and found that 473 or 28% of them functioned as
noun clauses. In
this article we begin our study of clauses
introduced by subordinating
conjunctions. Of these, 1220
function as noun clauses, the largest
category of all the subordinate clauses.
Several designations are used for
this type of clause. Simplest is
the term "Noun Clause", the one that will
be used in this paper. It
indicates a clause which functions in the sentence
as a noun, and can
be used almost anywhere a noun can; usually as
subject or object of
the verb. Other designations are
"Nominal" or "Substantival", with
no distinction in meaning.
CLASSIFICATION
ACCORDING TO NOUN FUNCTION
This classification of noun clauses
is based on what functional
part of the sentence is filled by the clause. Noun
clauses are used in
1 See my article,
"Relative Clauses in the Greek New Testament: A
Statistical Study" GTJ 9 (1988) 233-56.
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GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
three primary ways; they are either subject, or
object, or epexegetic,
with sub-classifications based on the structure of
each. It should be
noted that in this matter they conform to a pattern
similar to that
found in the use of the verbal noun-substitute, the
infinitive.2
Noun Clause as Subject
of Sentence
In these sentences the clausal
subject always stands after the verb
in Greek, as it usually does also in English,
except that there is in
Greek
no equivalent to the English "it" which stands before as a sign
of the delayed subject. This English structure is
a most natural one to
translate these Greek sentences. Example: I Cor 4:3 e]moi> de> ei]j
e]la<xisto<n e]stin, i!na u[f ] u[mw?n a]nakriqw?, "But to me it is a very
small thing that I should be examined by you."
Subject
of Copulative Verb, Ei]mi<
A relatively small number of these
are found. Sometimes the
verb is expressed (6 examples), more commonly it is left
to be
supplied (14 times). In two instances3
the clause seems to function as
subjective complement rather than subject, but it
is difficult to tell
which is which.
Few as they are, a couple patterns
appear. In seven instances4 the
sentence opens with ou]k
o!ti without a verb, and the sense seems to be
a dis-avowal of
something: "It is not that," "I do not mean that,"
"The
situation is not such that."
Another recurring pattern involves
the predicate adjective dh?lon,
with the verb e]sti<n to be supplied. Twice dh?lon is expressed,5 once it
is found in the variant readings.6 In
another passage, to assume that
dh?lon
e]sti<n should be supplied furnishes, in the judgement of some
commentators7 and of the present
writer, a preferable explanation to
a very difficult problem of interpretation.
2 See my article,
"Classification of Infinitives: A Statistical Study" GTJ 6 (1985) 4-6.
3 John
coded information, has been placed in a Supplemental
Manual of Information. It is
available to those interested through their local
library by interlibrary loan from the
Morgan
Library, Grace Theological Seminary,
46590.
Similar manuals are available for the other grammatical studies published in
this journal by the same author.
4 John
and last of these translates "because",
elsewhere they use simply, "Not that. . . ".
5 1 Cor
6 1 Tim 6:7. Cf. the
critical apparatus.
71 John 3:20. Cf. Henry
Alford, The Greek Testament (
and
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 227
Subject
of Impersonal Verbs
Only
eight instances occur.8 Example: John 11.50 sumfe<rei
u[mi?n
i!na
ei$j a@nqrwpoj a]poqa<n^ u[pe>r tou? laou?, "it is expedient
for you
that one man should die for the people.”9
Again, the noun clause
takes the place of the impersonal "it" used
in English with such verbs,
except that it stands after the verb. In five of these
the verb is one
which elsewhere uses an infinitive subject.
Subject
of Passive Verbs
There are 37 of these. In every case
the clause would be the
object of the verb if it were in the active voice, but
becomes subject in
the passive transform. Interestingly, in 21
instances the clause is a
direct or indirect quotation from OT scriptures; 18 of
them using
ge<graptai, "it is written
that. . ." An example not involving the
quoting
of scripture is Mark 2:1: h]kou<sqh o!ti e]n oi@k& e]sti<n. "It was
heard that he was at home."
Noun
Clause as Object of Verbs
Again the use of a clause as a
substitute for a noun parallels the
use of the infinitive, with the same type of verbs
and many of the
same individual verbs showing both constructions.
Our classification
of the object clauses will therefore parallel our
classification of object
infinitives.
Object
of Verbs Taking an Objective Complement
Many verbs are of such a nature that
they take another verbal
idea to complete their meaning. Such verbs I have
dealt with at length
in another place10 and will only
briefly touch them here. They com-
monly use an infinitive as
complement, but there are 42 examples in
the NT where a noun clause serves as complement.
Example: 1 Cor
14:1
zhlou?te
de> ta> pneumatika>,
ma?llon de> i!na profhteu<hte. "yet
desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that
you may prophesy."
These verbs include those expressing
(1) wish or desire (qe<lw*
has a noun clause complement 8 times with the verb
expressed, 3
times where it is understood from the context); (2)
an activity to the
end that something may or may not be done (bouleu<w*, sumboul-
eu<w*, sumbou<lion
labei?n, sumbou<lion
dido<nai 7, poie<w 7*, e[toima<zw
3,
a]ggareu<w 2, and ba<llw, diati<qemai, ti<qhmi, zhlo<w*, zhte<w*, one
8 Matt
9 Unless otherwise
stated, NT translations will be given from NASB.
10 See my article,
"Infinitives" GTJ 6, 7.
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each); (3) to permit, allow (a]fi<hmi*, di<dwmi one each); (4) ability,
sufficiency (a]rke<w, e@xw*, eu[ri<skw,
one each); (5) need or obligation
(di<dwmi* one); and (6) emotion
(a]gallia<w, one11).
Those marked
with an asterisk (*) are used elsewhere in the NT
with the objective
complement supplied by an infinitive. It is
significant that the NASB
uses an infinitive to translate 22 of these 42 noun
clauses in the NT.
Object
in Direct Discourse
Direct discourse usually stands as a complete
unit without need-
ing to be introduced by a
subordinate conjunction, therefore the
majority of them lie outside the scope of this
study. However, in the
Greek
NT there is a tendency to introduce direct discourse by using
the same conjunction as is used for indirect, o!ti. This o!ti recitatuvum
as it is called by grammarians12 cannot
be translated and is the
equivalent of our English quotation mark. The
category is included to
call attention to this phenomenon. There are 171
instances so desig-
nated, although there is
sometimes ambiguity as to whether such a
quote is direct or indirect. An example of this
ambiguity is Mark
senses.'" It could be understood, "they were
saying that he had lost
his senses."
Object
in Indirect Discourse
By far the largest category of noun clauses is
their use in indirect
discourse, 750 instances. The clause stands as
object of a verb of
mental perception or communication and expresses the
content or
substance of the thought or of the communication.
Again, the classi-
fication of this group is
patterned after that used with infinitives in
indirect discourse.13
Verbs of Recognizing, Knowing, Understanding. This sub-class
alone accounts for almost half (372) of the whole
group. Example:
1
John 5.2 e]n tou<t&
ginw<skomen o!ti a]gapw?men ta> te<kna
tou? qeou?
"By
this we know that we love the children of God."
The verbs involved, with the number of
occurrences and in the
order of frequency, are: oi#da 156* (+ one where it is
to be under-
stood),
ginw<skw
60*, a]kou<w 3, ei#don 28, e]piginw<skw 14, ble<pw 7,
e]pi<stamai 7, a]gnoe<w 6, mimn^<skw 6, mnhmoneu<w 6*, qewre<w 6*,
a]naginw<skw
5, noe<w 3*, qea<omai 3, fanero<w 2, katalamba<nw
2*,
11 Perhaps this should be listed under
verbs of wishing and desiring, cf. F. Blass
and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and
Other Early Chris-
tian Literature, trans. and rev. by Robert Funk (Chicago: Univ.
of Chicago, 1961) 199.
12 Cf. BDF, Grammar 205, 246-47.
13 See my article "Infinitives" GTJ 7-9.
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 229
and
once each e]pe<xw,
e]comologe<w, geu<omai, gnwri<zw, gnw?ston ei#nai,
gra<fw, o[ra<w, paralamba<nw,
proei?don,
proginw<skw, punqa<nomai,
sfragi<zw,
su<mfhmi, suni<hmi, u[pomimn^<skw. Those marked with the
asterisk (*) also use the infinitive of indirect
discourse, but the noun
clause seems to be preferred with this category of
verbs.
Verbs of
Thinking, Believing, Feeling, Deciding. 102 noun
clauses belong to this group. Example: Gal 1:6 Qauma<zw
o!ti ou!twj
taxe<wj
metati<qesqe a]po> tou? kale<santoj u[ma?j . . . "I am amazed that
you are so quickly deserting Him who. . ."
Verbs using this construction are pisteu<w 25*, doke<w 15* (once
where it is to be understood),
logi<zomai 4*, nomi<zw 4*, qauma<zw 4, zhte<w 4, e@xw 3*, mimn^<skw
3,
suni<hmi
2, and once each, a]gallia<w, a]namimn^<skw*, bouleu<w,
xairw, ei#pon, e]mble<pw, katamanqa<nw, katanoe<w, kri<nw, mnhmoneu<w,
oi@omai*, plhrofore<w, sullale<w, sumbiba<zw, sunti<qemai, u[polam-
ba<nw. The infinitive is
common with these verbs.
Verbs of Hoping, Expecting. There are only six examples in
this category, all involving the same verb, e]lpi<zw. Example: Luke
24:21
h[mei?j de> h]lpi<zomen o!ti
au]to<j e]stin o[ me<llwn
lutrou?sqai to>n
]Israh<l: "But we were
hoping that it was He who was going to
redeem
Verbs of Indirect Statement. The three previous
classes involved
mental activity; the three following involve the
communication of
that mental activity. The first group expresses a
simple statement of
the content of that activity; in direct discourse
it would be a declara-
tive sentence. Example: John
th<r me a]pe<stalken. “ . . . bear witness of Me,
that the Father has
sent Me." The idiomatic expression used by
Jesus, le<gw ga>r
u[mi?n o!ti,
"for
I say to you" and a]mh>n
ga>r le<gw u[mi?n o!ti, "truly I say to
you"
accounts for 32 of the total 164 so classified.
The verbs used are verbs of saying, speaking,
reporting, wit-
nessing, etc.; le<gw
58, ei#pon 24, marture<w 12, eu]xariste<w 7, a]pag-
ge<llw 6*, dihge<omai 5, o[mologe<w 5*, martu<romai
4*, prole<gw
4,
gra<fw
3, a]nagge<llw
2, a]pokri<nomai 2*, dida<skw 2, e]mfani<zw 2,
e]chge<omai 2, lale<w 2, parati<qhmi
2, once each a]nasei<w, a]podei<k-
numi,
a]rne<omai,
dei<knumi, diamartu<romai, eu]aggeli<zw,
gnwri<zw,
kathxe<w, khru<ssw, mhnu<w, o]mnu<w*, proei?pon,
profhteu<w, sumbi-
ba<zw,
summarture<w. The verb is left to be supplied, the context
pointing to fhmi< (3 times), ei#pon once, and three times it is uncertain.
Verbs of Indirect Question. Of those clauses
introduced by
conjunctions identified in the
GRAMCORD schedule as SN (Sub-
ordinating Nominal) I found no
example where the indirect quote
would have been a question in the direct. However
there is another
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group of conjunctions labelled
by GRAMCORD as SG (Subordi-
nating Interrogative) which
also produce noun clauses. When this
group is included there are at least 14 examples of
indirect quotations
which would have been questions if quoted directly.
Verbs introducing these questions are: e]perwta<w 5*, and one
each de<omai*,
ei#pon,
e[rwta<w*, le<gw*,
prosde<xomai, punqa<nomai,
qauma<zw.
Verbs of
Indirect Command or Entreaty In these the noun
clause expresses the content of the command or
request. In direct
discourse they would probably be in the imperative
mood. Here they
become potential clauses, usually with i!na or o!pwj and the subjunc-
tive mood. They are appeals
to the will. Example of a command:
Mark
orders not to tell anyone." Example of an
entreaty: John
e]rwtw? i!na a@r^j au]tou>j e]k tou? ko<smou a]ll ] i!na thrh<s^j
au]tou>j e]k
tou?
ponhrou?. "I do not ask
Thee to take them out of the world, but
to keep them from the evil one."
Arbitrarily I have divided them into two groups,
commands and
entreaties. The basis for the division is two-fold:
(1) the meaning of
the verb used to introduce them; verbs speaking of
commanding
introduce commands, verbs speaking of asking,
pleading, etc., intro-
duce entreaties; (2) where this distinction is not
explicit the context is
made to decide. Obviously there are instances of
uncertainty.
Verbs of commanding followed by noun object
clauses are: ei#pon
6*,
e]pitima<w 6, diaste<llw
4, le<gw 3*, ble<pw 3, gra<fw 2*, and one
each,
a]kou<w, a]pagge<llw, diamartu<romai*,
e]nte<llomai*, e]corki<zw
khru<ssw*, labei?n e]ntolh<n, paideu<w*, paragge<llw, u[podei<knumi,
and two instances where the verb is not expressed;
The total is 35.
Verbs of entreaty found with this construction
are: parakale<w
20*,
e]rwta<w 14*, proseu<xomai
10* (+ 3 where it is probably to be
supplied),
de<omai 6, ka<mptw ta> go<nata
3, ai]te<w 1 *, and another
where the word to be supplied is uncertain; total,
57.
Object
of Verbs of Fearing, Apprehension
After some verbs which express fear or warning
the cause of the
apprehension is expressed by a noun
clause. Example: Matt 24:4
ble<pete
mh< tij u[ma?j planh<s^ "See to it that no
one misleads you."
31
instances are so classified. They involve the verbs, ble<pw
11,
fobe<w 10, e]piskope<w 3, o[ra<w 2, skope<w 2, prose<xw
1; twice the
verb is left to be understood.
Object of Other Verbs
Three noun clauses involving the verb e@xw have been grouped
simply as direct object of that verb. In each case a
simple noun object
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 231
could easily be substituted for the noun clause. For
example: Luke
Son
of Man has nowhere [i.e., no place] to lay His head." This of
course sacrifices the dramatic force of the indirect
interrogative pou?,
which points to some such meaning as "He does
not have a place
where an answer can be found to the question, 'Where
shall I lay my
head?'" The other two are similar (Matt
Noun Clause as
Epexegetic of or in Apposition
to Another Substantive
To
a noun
Very often the noun clause stands as an
explanation of or in
apposition to a noun, 70 instances. Example: Matt
e@stin qe<lhma
e@mprosqen tou?
patro>j
u[mw?n tou? e]n ou]ranoi?j i!na
a]po<lhtai
e{n tw?n mikrw?n tou<twn. "Thus it is not
the will of your
Father
who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish."
A great
variety of nouns (37 by count) have such
amplifying clauses. 13 of
them also are used with an epexegetic infinitive,
and six more are
cognate with words which use this infinitive.
To
an adjective
This construction is less common with
adjectives, only 10 in-
stances. Example: John 1:27 ou$ ou]k
ei]mi> e]gw> a@cioj i!na lu<sw au]tou? to>n
i[ma<nta
tou? u[podh<matoj.
"the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy
to untie," Again four of the ten also use an
epexegetic infinitive.
To
a pronoun
Most frequently the noun clause stands in
apposition to a pro-
noun, usually a demonstrative (59 times), sometimes
a relative (9
times) or an interrogative (8 times). But since a
pronoun refers back
to an antecedent, it follows that the appositional
clause also repre-
sents the antecedent noun.
Thus these clauses in effect have a double
identity; in structure they stand in explanation
of or in apposition to
the pronoun, in function they represent that part
of the sentence
occupied by the antecedent.
In this secondary sense these clauses function
like the various
classes of noun clauses already described. Some
(18) are explanatory
of a noun present in the sentence. Example: John
e]ntolh<
h[ e]mh<, i!na a]gapa?te a]llh<louj,
"This is My commandment,
that you love one another." Sometimes the
antecedent of the pronoun
is left to be supplied from the context. Example:
Luke
tou?to
i!na e@lq^ h[ mh<thr tou?
kuri<ou mou pro>j e]me<; "how has it
happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should
come to me?"
(the antecedent of tou?to is left to be supplied--"this event",
"this that
232
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
is happening"; the noun clause supplies a
description of what that
event was). In five instances the demonstrative is in
a phrase which by
context expresses purpose and the noun clause
states the content of
that purpose. Example:
i!na
gnw?te ta> peri> h[mw?n kai> . . . "For I have sent
him to you for this
very purpose, that you may know about our
circumstances and. . ."
By
these secondary identifications, there are 6 instances where these
clauses might be considered also as subject of
the copulative verb.
The same verbs which we have already seen may
take a noun
clause as object may also use an intervening pronoun,
the pronoun
being the object and the noun clause in apposition to
it explaining its
content. Example: Rom 6:6 tou?to
ginw<skontej o!ti o[ palaio>j h[mw?n
a@nqrwpoj
sunestaurw<qh . . . , "knowing
this, that our old self was
crucified with Him. . ." 29 of them are with
verbs taking indirect
discourse, and one with a verb of fearing.14
Noun clauses in apposition with relative and
interrogative pro-
nouns show a similar doubling of the construction.
Example: 1 Cor
o[
ku<rioj ]Ihsou?j . . . "For I
received from the Lord that which I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus. . ."
The noun clause is ex-
planatory of the relative clause
introduced by o! which is the object of
the verb pare<labon,
but it also gives the content of that which was
delivered; there are not two objects of the verb,
but one. It is de-
scribed by two statements, the relative clause
identifies it and the
noun clause gives its contents.
Another recurring pattern is the expression ti< o!ti;15 The
inter-
rogative pronoun ti< introduces a question
and the noun clause with o!ti
states what the question consists of. The expression
is much com-
pressed; the antecedent of ti< must be supplied by the
sense of the
context, also the verb e]sti<n is probably to be understood. The full
statement would probably be "For what reason
is it that. . . ?" or
“Why
is it that . . . ?” or simply “Why . . . ?”
CLAUSE STRUCTURE
The conjunctions used in noun clauses and the
mood of the verbs
appearing in them is considered next. Remember
that we are not in this
study dealing with all noun clauses, but only those
introduced by
conjunctions. There are 1220 of
these in the NT.
14 In indirect discourse, with verbs of
knowing: Matt 24:43; Luke
Rom
6:6; Eph 5:5; 1 Tim 1:9; 2 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 2 Pet
thinking: Mark 4:41; Luke 10:20 (twice); John
16:19; 1 Cor 7:26; 2 Cor
5:14; 10:7,
Phil
1:6; 2 Pet 3:3; 5, 8; with verbs of saying: I Cor
1:12;
of commanding and entreaty: John 15:17; Phil 1:9;
with verbs of fearing: 2 Cor 8:20.
15 Luke 2:49; John 14:22; Acts 5:4, 9; Phil
1:18; Heb 2:6 (twice).
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 233
!Oti With Noun Clauses (855)
The most frequently used conjunction with noun
clauses is o!ti.
Such
clauses are found as subject, as object, and as epexegetic, and in
almost every sub-classification of these outlined in
the preceding part
of this article.
!Oti Introducing Direct Discourse
This group has been described above. The direct
discourse is a
subordinate clause within the main sentence. The o!ti actually is not
needed and most often is not used. When it is used it
serves to
introduce a noun clause which consists of the
direct discourse. It is
different, however, from other o!ti clauses, in that the o!ti does not
govern the verb of the clause. The direct discourse
has its own verb
relationships; it can be in any mood,
and the o!ti has no effect
whatever on it. 20% or 168 of the 855 occurrences
of the conjunction
o!ti in noun clauses belong
here.
!Oti with the Indicative Mood
o!ti almost always governs a
verb in the indicative mood. Of the
remaining 687 places where o!ti introduces a noun clause there are
only three exceptions16 and even these
are only apparent exceptions,
not real (see next paragraph). There are 34 places
where the o!ti
clause has no verb expressed, it is left to be
supplied from the sense
or the context. In each instance the verb supplied
would be indicative.
!Oti with the Subjunctive
Mood
There are three instances where the verb is
subjunctive in a
clause introduced by o!ti.17 Each of
these is an example of the "em-
phatic negation"
construction, ou]
mh< with the subjunctive,18 a con-
struction which can stand
anywhere an indicative can and is the
equivalent of an indicative.
!Ina
With Noun
Clauses (194)
Second in order of frequency of noun clauses are
those intro-
duced by i!na. Again they are included in almost all of the classes
already discussed, though not as widely as o!ti. When i!na is found in
16 While this statement is dealing with o!ti in noun clauses, it
also is true with causal
clauses ( o!ti = because), the subject
of a later study.
17 Matt
18 For a discussion of
this construction, its meaning and its structure, see my
article, "The Classification of
Subjunctives: A Statistical Study" GTJ
7 (1986) 6.
234
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
a noun clause it of course is not to be
translated "in order that" (its
most familiar translation as a final clause), but
rather, simply "that",
or frequently by an infinitive.
!Ina
with the Subjunctive Mood
The normal mood in a i!na clause is subjunctive and the noun
clauses with i!na follow that rule, 187
times out of 194 or 96%.
!Ina with the Future
Indicative
The ambivalence between future indicative and
aorist subjunctive
has been examined in considerable detail elsewhere.19
All examples of
i!na with the indicative in
noun clauses are futures, and interestingly
all are in the book of Revelation, a book with displays
a great variety
of unusual grammatical features. If, as we have
attempted to demon-
strate in the earlier study,
there is no distinction in meaning between
the two constructions, then these seven future
indicatives with i!na are
simply variant forms of the subjunctive.
Pw?j With Noun Clauses (37)
Pw?j with the Indicative Mood
Pw?j in noun clauses is almost limited to indirect discourse
after
verbs of knowing, thinking, saying, etc. Since pw?j
is an
interrogative
the original which is being stated indirectly is
always a question,
asking "How?" It normally uses the
indicative mood, and 26 of the 37
NT
examples are indicative.
Pw?j with the Subjunctive Mood
In 11 instances pw?j is followed by a subjunctive verb. The reason
is quickly obvious; in every case the question
being indirectly quoted
was originally a deliberative question, already a
subjunctive.
Mh<
and Mh<pote With Noun Clauses (34)
In final clauses mh< often represents i!na
mh<, the negative of i!na,
but in noun clauses there is no i!na mh<. The conjunctions mh< and
mh<pote are most commonly (31
out of 34) found introducing the
object of a verb expressing fear, warning, or
apprehension, in the
sense "lest, that not," with the indefinite
pote< adding a sense of
uncertainty, "lest perhaps." One of the
other three (2 Cor
secondarily belongs to the same category, although
structurally it is
19 See my article, "Subjunctives" GTJ 7 (1986) 16-19.
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 235
listed as epexegetic of a pronoun that stands as the
object of such a
verb.
The other two (Luke
discourse where the direct would be a question.
Mh<,
mh<pote with the subjunctive
mood
The normal mood expected would be subjunctive as
indicated by
the potential quality of the construction; the
count is 25, plus 3 where
the verb is unexpressed and presumably would have
been subjunctive.
Mh<,
mh<pote with the indicative
mood
Three of the five indicatives are future and
should be considered
as equal to a subjunctive. Two are seemingly
irregular or unusual and
we look for some reason. Perhaps they are
representing something
actual rather than potential. Luke 11:35, sko<
soi>
sko<toj e]sti<n. "Then watch out that the light in you may not be
darkness."
may by the indicative be implying that, in the case under
consideration (namely, that the eye
is bad), the light in them is
actually darkness. In Gal 4:11, fobou?mai
u[ma?j mh< pwj ei]k^? kekopi<-
aka
ei]j u[ma?j, "I fear for you,
that perhaps I have labored over you in
vain," certainly the apprehension has to do,
not with what might
happen, but what already has happened.
Mh<pote with
the optative mood
Luke
tai?j
kardi<aij au]tw?n peri> tou? ]Iwa<nnou, mh<pote
au]to>j ei@h o[ xristo<j
"and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to
whether he
might be the Christ." Again, the verb would
already have been
optative in the direct question
and normally retains its mood when
quoted indirectly.
Ei] With Noun Clauses (33)
Ei] with the Indicative
Mood
Like pw?j, ei]
is an
interrogative word. When it introduces a noun
clause that clause is always an original question now
being quoted. In
at least two instances20 there is doubt
whether they should be con-
sidered as direct or indirect
quotations; NASB translates them as
direct quotes, with quotation marks. If they are
direct then the
conjunction ei] is functioning like the
o!ti
recitatuvum. If they are
20 Acts 7:1; 19:2
236
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
indirect the ei] becomes
"whether," or even "if" since English permits
the word "if" to be used sometimes in
that sense.
Almost always the mood in the noun clause is
indicative, 30
times.
Ei] with the Subjunctive
Mood
One example shows a subjunctive verb, Phil 3:12:
diw<kw de> ei]
kai>
katala<bw . . ."if I may
even lay hold. . ." (NASB margin). This
admittedly is a difficult sentence to translate,
but it seems clear that
the question being indirectly quoted was originally
a deliberative
question (note the first person), thus the
subjunctive simply carries
through to the quote.
Ei] with the Optative Mood
Two passages have optative
verbs after ei] in indirect questions,
Acts
and the optative should
be considered as belonging to the original
question, not to the conjunction ei].
Pou? With Noun Clauses (18)
Pou? with the Indicative Mood
Pou? is
another interrogative word pointing to an original ques-
tion being indirectly
quoted. When it represents a simple question the
mood is indicative, 13 times.
Pou? with the Subjunctive Mood
The three examples all involve the verb e@xw in a very compressed
statement; Matt
pou
ou]k e@xei pou? th>n kefalh>n kli<n^. "The Son of Man has nowhere
to lay His head." The original question was
"Where shall I lay my
head?"--a deliberative
question expressed in Greek by the subjunc-
tive mood and thus is
retained in the indirect discourse. @Exw here
may be expanded in sense to "have [the answer
to the question]:
"Where
shall I sleep?"
[Wj With Noun Clauses (16)
These occur with verbs of mental perception,
expressing the
object by using "how" instead of
"that". Example: Luke 24:35 kai>
au]toi> e]chgou?nto . . .
w[j e]gnw<sqh au]toi?j e]n t^? kla<sei tou?
a@rtou.
21 For a rather full treatment of the optative mood and its use in indirect questions,
see my article, "The Classification of Optatives: A Statistical Study" GTJ 9 (1988) 134.
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 237
"And
they began to relate. . . how He was recognized by
them in the
breaking of bread." The "how" is
not interrogative (as if answering a
question "in what manner?") but descriptive. All are indirect dis-
course, although five of them are listed as epexegetic
since they stand
in apposition to another word which is the
grammatical object.
All of the 16 examples use the indicative mood.
!Opwj With Noun Clauses
(15)
!Opwj like i!na is more often final, but like i!na it can serve with a
noun clause.22 In the NT it usually is
used with verbs of asking and
deciding, never with verbs of commanding.
!Opwj with the Subjunctive
Mood
In every instance except one the mood is
subjunctive, as is
normal with this conjunction and often is appropriate
with verbs of
asking.
!Opwj with the Indicative
Mood
In one example the mood is indicative, where
unquestionably the
content of the clause is actual, historical, and
in no sense potential;
Luke
24:20. The clause introduced by o!pwj is in answer to the
question poi?a; (v. 19), which itself
is governed by ou]k
e@gnwj (v. 18).
quote of a question. The mood is indicative.
The interrogative po<te occurs only four times in noun clauses;
each is an indirect question, in indirect discourse.
Three have an
indicative verb. The other, Luke
clause does not appear to be object; rather it seems
to depend on
some implied verb. The mood is subjunctive;
Robertson calls it an
indirect deliberative question.23
Kaqw<j With
Noun Clause (2)
Only two are found (Acts
discourse with the sense of "how", cf. w[j and o!pwj. The mood is
indicative.
22 “More and more replacing the info after
verbs of asking that" BAG 580.
23 A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of
Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman, 1934) 1044.
238
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Other
Nominal Structures
It may be helpful to conclude this consideration
of subordinate
conjunctive noun clauses by a brief review of other
structures which
are used in place of nouns. The nominal relative
clauses, already
mentioned, have been treated at length in the
preceding article in this
series.24
Another group of noun clauses not included
within the scope of
this paper needs to be brought to attention here;
those introduced by
interrogative pronouns, ti<j and po<soj. Most are direct
questions and
main clauses, but about 116 out of a total of 540
are quoted indirectly
and are thus subordinate noun clauses, though not
introduced by a
subordinating conjunction.
One of the commonest substitutes for a noun is a
substantival
participle, usually with the article, occasionally
without it. Techni-
cally this is not a
"clause" since it contains no finite verb. But it has a
verbal sense in the participle, it identifies the
"doer" of the action
involved in that verbal sense, it can take direct
or indirect objects like
any other verb form, as well as adverbial
modifiers. In English almost
the only way it can be translated in most cases is
by a noun or a
nominal relative clause. These have been dealt with
in a previous
article in this series.25
Another similar structure which functions as a
noun is the infini-
tive "clause".
Again, it is not technically a clause but it relates to it
much as the participle does; with
"subject", verbal action, objects,
and modifiers. It serves as subject of a sentence,
as object, as comp-
lement. It sometimes takes the
place of clauses, as in indirect dis-
course. In fact, almost every type of noun function
seen in noun
clauses has its parallel and pattern in infinitive
structures. These too
have been studied in depth in a previous article in
this series.26
Much less frequent but characteristically Greek
is the structure
which places the article to< before a clause, with
the effect that the
clause becomes a noun. This "substantivizing"
use of the article is
more familiar when it is used with adjectives and
participles, also with
adverbs (e.g., a]po> tou? nu?n), with prepositional phrases (e.g., ta> peri>
h[mw?n), with genitive phrases (e.g., oi[
tou? Xristou?), even with verbs
(e.g.,
to> a]ne<bh;
Eph 4:7).
The same construction occurs occasionally with
whole clauses.
Among
the clauses included in the present study four of those
intro-
24 Please see footnote #1.
25 See my article, "The Classification
of Participles: A Statistical Study" GTJ
5
(1984) 165-67.
26 See my article, "The Classification
of Infinitives: A Statistical Study" GTJ
6
(1985)
4-10.
BOYER:
NOUN CLAUSES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT 239
duced by pw?j have this article preceding.27 Six of the noun
clauses
introduced by an interrogative pronoun show it.
But especially is this noun-making effect of the
article worth
noting in some passages where whole sentences, or even
groups of
words which are not even a clause, are, as it were,
put in quote marks
and treated as a single word by an article
preceding. Examples: Rom
13:9
to> ga>r ou]
moixeu<seij, ou] foneu<seij,
ou] kle<yeij, ou]k
e]piqumh<-
seij
kai> ei@ tij e[te<ra
e]ntolh<, e]n t&? lo<g& tou<t& a]nakefalaiou?tai, e]n
t&?
a]gaph<seij to>n plhsi<on sou w[j seauto<n "For this, 'You shall not
commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not
steal, You
shall not covet,' and if there is any other
commandment, it is summed
up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor
as yourself." (cf. also,
Matt
(quoted from the lips of the supplicant) calls attention to
the element
of doubt it reflects, as if to say "Watch out
for that expression "If you
can." In 1 Cor 4:6
Paul takes an incomplete clause (there is no verb,
but one is implied by the mh<) and by putting an
article before it
makes it a policy-setting principal which he
admonishes the Corin-
thians to learn, the
"not-beyond-what-is-written" rule.
27 Luke 22:2, 4; Acts 4:21; 1 Thess 4:1.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Grace
Theological Seminary
www.grace.edu
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
thildebrandt@gordon.edu