Exegetical Insight (Chapter 31)

When we listen to someone we care about and respect deeply, we listen for more than the surface meaning. The content is important, but we are keen to catch also the attitude of the speaker, what his words imply about our relationship with him, what is most significant to him, what he emphasizes as he speaks, and so forth. When we study the New Testament we can look for such elements of meaning as well.

This chapter describes a fascinating combination used by the Greek language to show emphasis: it is the use of the two negatives ouj mhv with a subjunctive verb to indicate a strong negation about the future. The speaker uses the subjunctive verb to suggest a future possibility, but in the same phrase he emphatically denies (by means of the double negative) that such could ever happen. This linguistic combination occurs about eighty-five times in the New Testament, often in significant promises or reassurances about the future.

In Jesus’ description of himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10, he gives one of the most treasured of these promises: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish (ouj mh; ajpovlwntai)” (10:27–28a NIV). It would have been enough to have ouj with a future indicative verb here, but Jesus is more emphatic. The subjunctive combination strongly denies even the possibility that any of Jesus’ sheep would perish: “they will certainly not perish,” “they will by no means perish,” is the sense of Jesus’ assertion. This is reinforced by the addition of the phrase ei∆V to;n ai∆wÇna, “forever.” Jesus’ emphatic promise is the bedrock of assurance and godly motivation for every one of his sheep!

Buist M. Fanning