"If" Sentences

A conditional sentence has two halves. The if-half states a condition, and the then-half states what follows if the condition holds. Grammarians call the first the protasis, from a Greek word meaning what is put forward, and the second the apodosis, from a word meaning what is given back. 'If Christ has not been raised' is the protasis of 1 Corinthians 15:17. 'Your faith is futile; you are still in your sins' is the apodosis. You do not need the technical names to read Greek, but every grammar and commentary uses them, so learn them once.

Greek has two common words for if. εἰ (ei) appears 502 times in the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), as tagged by the free MorphGNT project, and ἐάν (ean), which began as a contraction of εἰ and the little particle ἄν, appears 331 times. Not every ἐάν is conditional, since after a relative pronoun it often just means -ever, as in whoever. But between them these two words carry almost every if in the New Testament, and the mood of the verb that follows each is the main thing that tells you what kind of condition you are reading.

There is more than one way to sort conditions into kinds, and students should know that the experts have argued about it. One older tradition, associated with William Watson Goodwin's Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, classified conditions mainly by their time reference and by whether they speak of a particular case or a general rule. Another, associated with Basil Gildersleeve and taken up in A. T. Robertson's large Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (1914), classified them by the form of the if-clause and by how the speaker presents the condition. Most New Testament grammars since, including Daniel Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (1996), use a four-class system descended from the second approach. It is not the only defensible scheme, but it is the one your tools and most commentaries assume, so it is the one this lesson teaches.

One principle governs the whole system, and if you keep it you will avoid most errors. The form of a condition tells you how the speaker presents it, not whether it is true. A speaker may present as real something he thinks false, in order to argue; he may present as unreal something that is actually true, because he is mistaken. Grammar shows you the speaker's stance. Context shows you the facts.

The first class condition is εἰ with a verb in the indicative mood, in any tense, and almost any kind of then-clause. It presents the condition as true for the sake of the argument: suppose this is so; then this follows. Matthew 12:28 is an example: εἰ δὲ ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ ἐγὼ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, 'But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you'. Romans 8:31 is another, with no verb at all in the if-clause: εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' And the anchor, 1 Corinthians 15:17, is a third: εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐγήγερται (ei de Christos ouk egēgertai), if Christ has not been raised. ἐγήγερται is perfect passive indicative, third person singular, of ἐγείρω.

The second class condition is εἰ with a past-tense indicative, usually imperfect or aorist, and its then-clause normally contains ἄν (an) with another past-tense indicative. It presents the condition as contrary to fact: if this were so, which it is not. John 11:21 is Martha's grief in grammar: Κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός μου, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died'. He was not there, and the brother did die. Luke 7:39 shows why the speaker's stance is not the same as the facts. The Pharisee says to himself Οὗτος εἰ ἦν προφήτης, ἐγίνωσκεν ἄν, 'If this man were a prophet, He would know'. His grammar presents Jesus as no prophet. In the very next verse Jesus answers the thought the Pharisee had not spoken aloud.

The third class condition is ἐάν with a verb in the subjunctive mood. It presents the condition as a real prospect that may or may not be met, and very often as a general rule: whenever this happens, this follows. 1 John 1:9 is the best known: ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν (ean homologōmen tas hamartias hēmōn), 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins'. ὁμολογῶμεν is present active subjunctive, first person plural. The subjunctive does not make the promise doubtful. It makes the confessing the open question; the faithfulness of God is stated in the indicative and is not in doubt at all.

The fourth class condition is εἰ with a verb in the optative mood, and its full form would have ἄν with another optative in the then-clause. It presents the condition as a more remote possibility: if this should happen. The optative was fading from ordinary Greek by the first century, and grammarians commonly note that the New Testament contains no complete example of this class, only if-clauses with an optative and some other kind of then-clause. 1 Peter 3:14 is the clearest: ἀλλʼ εἰ καὶ πάσχοιτε διὰ δικαιοσύνην, μακάριοι, 'But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed'. πάσχοιτε is present active optative, second person plural, and the then-clause has no verb at all.

Two cautions belong here. First, real sentences do not always keep to the textbook: there are mixed conditions, with the if-clause of one class and the then-clause of another, and there are conditions with half missing. The classes describe the usual patterns, not a set of laws. Second, the four classes are recognised by form, which means your free tools can show you the class without your knowing any more Greek than the alphabet. Find the if-word, tap the verb after it, read the mood in the parsing. Indicative after εἰ is first or second class; check the tense and look for ἄν in the then-clause to tell which. Subjunctive after ἐάν is third. Optative after εἰ is fourth.

Many students of the Bible have heard it said, from a pulpit, in a study Bible note or in a popular book, that in the Greek this is a first class condition, so the if really means since. It is usually said to strengthen a point: if you are a child of God, which in the Greek means since you are. The claim is sincere and it is widespread. It is also wrong, and the grammarians who have studied the question say so plainly.

Part of the confusion seems to come from older labels. Robertson's grammar described the first class as a condition determined as fulfilled. He meant that the speaker treats the condition as fulfilled for the purpose of what he is saying, and Robertson himself made clear that this concerned how the premise was presented, not whether it was actually true. In popular teaching the description was shortened, first to assumed true, then to true, and finally to since. Each step was small. The last one changed the meaning.

The correction is found in the standard grammars. Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics teaches that the first class condition presents the condition as true for the sake of argument, and explicitly warns against translating it as since. James L. Boyer, in an article titled 'First Class Conditions: What Do They Mean?' in the Grace Theological Journal (1981), went through the first class conditions of the New Testament one by one and sorted them by whether the context shows the condition to be true, false or undetermined. On his count only a little over a third are plainly true; about one in eight are plainly false; and around half cannot be settled from the context at all. If first class meant since, there could be no false ones. There are dozens.

And the clearest of them is the anchor. In 1 Corinthians 15:13-17 Paul writes four first class conditions about the resurrection: εἰ δὲ ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν, if there is no resurrection of the dead (15:13); εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐγήγερται, if Christ has not been raised (15:14 and again in 15:17); and εἰ γὰρ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, if the dead are not raised (15:16). Every one is εἰ with an indicative verb. Every one is something Paul believes to be false, as 15:20 announces: Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, 'But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead'. Read 15:17 as since and the apostle declares that Christ has not been raised. No one who held the since rule would accept that reading, which is the best proof that the rule is false.

The same pattern runs through the Gospels and Paul. In Matthew 12:26-27 Jesus says, with two first class conditions, 'If Satan drives out Satan' and 'if I drive out demons by Beelzebul', and he believes neither: he is showing his opponents where their own accusation leads. In Galatians 2:21, εἰ γὰρ διὰ νόμου δικαιοσύνη, 'For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing', Paul states a premise in order to reject it. The first class condition is the natural construction for arguing from a premise you intend to demolish, which is exactly why it cannot mean since.

This does not mean since is never a fair translation. Colossians 3:1 begins Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ, and the BSB renders it 'Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ'. That is defensible, because Colossians 2:12 has already stated, with the same verb, that the readers were raised with him. The translators did not get since from the grammar; they got it from the context, and the context supports it. Even then, something is lost. An if invites the hearer to agree with the premise and draw the conclusion himself. A since tells him the premise is settled. Paul may well have wanted the Colossians to do the agreeing.

Matthew 4:3 shows a case where context leaves room for honest disagreement. The tempter says Εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, 'If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread'. It is a first class condition, and the voice from heaven has just said in 3:17 that Jesus is the beloved Son. Some readers hear the devil granting the premise and turning it into a temptation: since you are the Son, use your power for yourself. Others hear a challenge to prove it: if you really are, show me. Both readings make sense of the temptation, and the grammar permits both. The one thing the grammar does not do is decide between them.

Hear the anchor in its setting. Some in the Corinthian church were saying ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν, there is no resurrection of the dead (15:12). Paul does not begin by piling up evidence, though he has already rehearsed the witnesses in 15:3-8. Instead he takes their premise and follows it to the end, the kind of argument logicians call a reduction to absurdity. Suppose you are right, he says, and see where you have arrived. The first class condition is the tool for exactly this kind of argument, because it lets him say suppose this is so without for a moment conceding that it is.

Trace the chain through its joints. 15:13: if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 15:14: if Christ has not been raised, κενόν (kenon), empty, is our preaching, and empty too is your faith. 15:15: we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we testified that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise εἴπερ ἄρα, if in fact the dead are not raised. 15:16 restates the premise. 15:17 repeats the condition of 15:14 but changes the word: now your faith is ματαία (mataia), futile, and adds what that means, ἔτι ἐστὲ ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν, you are still in your sins. 15:18 begins with ἄρα, the strong so then of the first lesson in this module: then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 15:19: if our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are the most pitiable of all people.

Notice the verb. ἐγήγερται, the perfect has been raised, appears seven times in 1 Corinthians 15, in verses 4, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 20. You met the perfect in Module 4: an action complete with a state that continues. Paul's gospel is not that Jesus was raised once and then departed but that he has been raised and remains the risen one. The whole if-chain is built on denying that perfect, and the turn in 15:20, Νυνὶ δέ, but now, reaffirms it with the same word.

Two things follow for a pastor. First, Paul stakes the whole of Christian faith on something that either happened or did not. He does not say that faith remains meaningful even if Christ was not raised; he says it is futile and the forgiveness of sins is gone with it. A congregation should hear that their faith is not a private feeling but a response to a public event, and the evidence for that event is treated in the Apologetics track of this school. Second, notice the pastoral weight of 15:18. Paul names the people the Corinthians were grieving, the dead in Christ, and says that if the deniers are right, those loved ones have perished. The argument is logical, but its edge is a funeral.

Conditions carry many of the New Testament's promises, and the third class needs particular care in preaching. 1 John 1:9 is sometimes taught as if the if made forgiveness uncertain, and sometimes as if the present subjunctive meant that only those who confess continually without a gap are forgiven. Neither follows from the grammar. The ἐάν presents confession as the open human question and the faithfulness of God as the settled divine answer. The present tense presents confession as a practice rather than a one-off event, but as Module 4 warned, aspect should not be made to carry a doctrine of its own. The verse teaches that God forgives those who confess; it does not teach a theology of unbroken confession.

Conditions also carry the warnings, and here the church is genuinely divided. Colossians 1:22-23 says that Christ has reconciled the readers in order to present them holy and blameless before him, εἴ γε ἐπιμένετε τῇ πίστει (ei ge epimenete tē pistei), 'if indeed you continue in your faith'. That is a first class condition, εἰ with a present indicative, strengthened by the particle γε. Hebrews 3:6 and 3:14 have third class conditions, with ἐάν and its strengthened form ἐάνπερ: 'We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first'. What do these ifs mean for a believer?

One reading, held across the Reformed tradition, says that these conditions describe the evidence of genuine faith rather than a condition that a true believer might fail. Its defenders point to the grammar of Hebrews 3:14: the then-clause uses a perfect, μέτοχοι γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν, we have come to share in Christ, so that holding firm to the end shows that one has already become a sharer, not that one becomes a sharer by holding firm. They point to 1 John 2:19, a second class condition about those who left the church: εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἦσαν, μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθʼ ἡμῶν, 'For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us'. Others in the same tradition put the weight elsewhere. Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday, in The Race Set Before Us (2001), argue that the warnings look forward rather than test backward: they are the very means God uses to keep his people persevering, so that they are real and urgent without implying that the elect will finally fall away.

Another reading, held across the Arminian and Wesleyan traditions, says that these conditions are exactly what they appear to be: continuing in faith is required for final salvation, and a true believer can fail to meet the requirement. Its defenders point out that the first class condition in Colossians 1:23 presents continuing as a live premise addressed to people Paul has just called reconciled, and that a warning addressed to believers which could never apply to any believer would be no warning at all. They point to Hebrews 6:4-6, which describes people who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and who have shared in the Holy Spirit, and then speaks of their falling away. I. Howard Marshall's Kept by the Power of God (1969) is a careful statement of this view, holding both that God powerfully keeps believers and that the conditions are genuine.

What can the grammar settle here? Less than either side sometimes claims. A first class condition presents its premise as true for the argument, which fits Paul addressing people he believes are continuing, but does not say whether any of them might stop. A third class condition presents holding firm as a real prospect, which both readings accept. The perfect in Hebrews 3:14 is a real point for the first reading; the addressees of the warnings are a real point for the second. Both traditions agree on what a pastor must do with these texts: preach the condition as a condition, with its full urgency, and preach the faithfulness of God beside it. The disagreement is over what lies behind the if, not over whether to say it.

Your step this week: in your capstone passage, or in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 if your passage has no conditions, find every if. On a notebook page headed Conditions, write each one with its verse, look up the if-word and the mood of the verb after it in STEP Bible or Blue Letter Bible, and name the class. Then write a second line for each: how does the speaker present this condition, and does the context show it to be true, false or open? If any translation you use renders an if as since, check whether the context, not the grammar, justifies it. This page, with your Connectives and Order pages, will feed the phrasing you do at the end of the module.