| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The transitional adverb tote {τότε | tó-te} ‘then’ signals a temporal link to the preceding narrative. The main verb diesteilato {διεστείλατο | di-e-steí-la-to} is an aorist middle indicative, emphasizing Jesus’ personal involvement in issuing a forceful directive. The dative phrase tois mathetais {τοῖς μαθηταῖς | toîs ma-thē-taîs} marks the disciples as recipients of this injunction. The purpose clause introduced by hina {ἵνα | hí-na} governs the aorist subjunctive eiposin {εἴπωσιν | eí-pō-sin}, a common pattern for commands as intended outcomes, here hina mēdeni eiposin {ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴπωσιν | hí-na mē-de-ní eí-pō-sin} ‘so that they should say to no one.’ The indefinite pronoun mēdeni {μηδενὶ | mē-de-ní} conveys the absolute exclusion of all persons. The content clause with hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} specifies the utterance autos estin ho christos {αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ χριστός | au-tós é-stin ho khris-tós} ‘that He is the Christ.’ The intensive position of autos {αὐτός | au-tós} focuses on the person’s identity, and the copula estin {ἐστιν | é-stin} links Him to the titular predicate ho christos {ὁ χριστός | ho khris-tós}, functioning as a predicative nominative. The formal version retains the literal purpose construction “that they were to tell no one,” while the dynamic version renders the prohibition idiomatically as “not to tell anyone,” preserving both force and content. |