When I was a kid many, many moons ago (later 1940's), a popular ditty was "You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don't mess with Mr. Inbetween." "Latch on to" seems to me perfect colloquial English idiom for ἐπιλαβέσθαι -- "get a firm grip on." Statistics: Posted by cwconrad — May 22nd, 2014, 2:42 pmBarry Hofstetter wrote:I would see the force of ἐπιλαβοῦ as "grasp," "seize firmly." In my mind the aorist imperative simply looks at the action as a whole, and I wonder if this isn't really an aktionsart issue?Peter Streitenberger wrote:Dear friends, Ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, (1Tim 6,12) - why is the first imperative in the present tense and the second in the Aorist? Is it a call to an ongoing fight of faith and a grasping of eternal live seen as a singe event (if so is it already done or a future event - I mean the grasping). Thanks ! Peter
I would see the force of ἐπιλαβοῦ as "grasp," "seize firmly." In my mind the aorist imperative simply looks at the action as a whole, and I wonder if this isn't really an aktionsart issue? Statistics: Posted by Barry Hofstetter — May 22nd, 2014, 2:01 pmPeter Streitenberger wrote: Dear friends, Ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, (1Tim 6,12) - why is the first imperative in the present tense and the second in the Aorist? Is it a call to an ongoing fight of faith and a grasping of eternal live seen as a singe event (if so is it already done or a future event - I mean the grasping). Thanks ! Peter
Ok, thank you, Stephen, many interesting thoughts ! >ἐπίληψίς "a taking hold of", "a clasping" That would imply that the reader is in possesion of the eternal live and should cling to it. But at this point I'm not sure whether this is the idea within this verb. So is Timothy expected to reach out for (a future) eternal life or to cling to it, already having it. That would be interesting. Yours Peter Statistics: Posted by Peter Streitenberger — May 21st, 2014, 2:29 pm
Dear friends, Ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, (1Tim 6,12) - why is the first imperative in the present tense and the second in the Aorist? Is it a call to an ongoing fight of faith and a grasping of eternal live seen as a singe event (if so is it already done or a future event - I mean the grasping). Thanks ! Peter Statistics: Posted by Peter Streitenberger — May 21st, 2014, 11:35 am