| 37. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a conditional protasis introduced by ei {Εἴ | Eí} and tis {τις | tis}, yielding “if anyone.” The verb dokei {δοκεῖ | do-keî} with the infinitive einai {εἶναι | eî-nai} governs the predicate nominatives prophētēs {προφήτης | pro-phḗ-tēs} and pneumatikos {πνευματικός | pneu-ma-ti-kós}, linked by the conjunction ē {ἢ | ḕ} to express “thinks he is a prophet or spiritual.” The apodosis appears in the imperative epiginōsketō {ἐπιγινωσκέτω | e-pi-gi-nōs-ké-tō}, “let him acknowledge,” directing self-professed prophets or spiritual persons to affirm the source of Paul’s instructions. The direct object is the relative clause ha graphō hymin {ἃ γράφω ὑμῖν | há grá-phō hū-mîn}, “the things which I write to you.” The content clause hoti kyriou estin {ὅτι κυρίου ἐστίν | hó-ti ky-ri-óu es-tín} indicates possession and authority, with the genitive kyriou expressing source and the verb estin functioning with a neuter plural subject. Paul’s syntactic structure thus binds claims of spiritual status to the necessity of recognizing his apostolic writings as divinely authoritative. |