Infinitives

An infinitive is a verb form that can do the work of a noun. English has two kinds: the to form, to live, and the -ing form, living, which in a sentence like living is hard does exactly what an infinitive does. A Greek infinitive is one word, usually ending in -ειν (-ein), -αι (-ai) or -σθαι (-sthai), and it keeps two features of the verb, tense and voice, while dropping person and number. That is why the codes in STEP Bible and Blue Letter Bible show an infinitive with only three letters after the V: V-PAN, present active infinitive; V-AAN, aorist active infinitive; and so on, with N in the mood slot for infinitive.

Because it is a noun, an infinitive can do what nouns do. It can be the subject of a sentence, or its object. It can take the article, and when it does the article is always neuter singular: τό (to) in the nominative and accusative, τοῦ (tou) in the genitive, τῷ (tō) in the dative. The article tells you the case of the infinitive, and the case tells you what the infinitive is doing. And because it is still a verb, an infinitive can have its own object, its own adverbs, and even its own subject, which, as you will see, goes into the accusative case.

The infinitive is common. The SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT) has well over two thousand of them. In lesson 3 you met one at the end of the Great Commission, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν (didaskontes autous tērein, teaching them to keep), where τηρεῖν (tērein, to keep) is a present active infinitive saying what the teaching aims at. In lesson 1 you met two with the article in Philippians 2:13, τὸ θέλειν καὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν (to thelein kai to energein, the willing and the working), present active infinitives standing as the things God works in believers. Now the anchor, which is built from nothing else.

The SBLGNT reads ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν Χριστὸς καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος (emoi gar to zēn Christos kai to apothanein kerdos, for to me the living is Christ and the dying gain). Take it word by word. ἐμοί (emoi, to me) is the dative of the first person pronoun, placed first in the sentence. γάρ (gar, for) links the verse to the confidence of verse 20. τὸ ζῆν (to zēn, the living) is the present active infinitive of ζάω (zaō, I live), with the neuter article in the nominative. Χριστός (Christos, Christ) is nominative. καί (kai, and). τὸ ἀποθανεῖν (to apothanein, the dying) is the aorist active infinitive of ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō, I die), again with the neuter nominative article. κέρδος (kerdos, gain) is a nominative neuter noun. There is no verb is in the Greek. The two halves are verbless clauses, which Greek uses freely and English cannot, so every translation supplies is.

Now the question that matters. In each half there are two nominatives, so either could be the subject. Is it living is Christ, or Christ is living? Dying is gain, or gain is dying? Module 1 introduced the principle and Module 3 the article: in a sentence that equates two nominatives, the one with the article is normally the subject. Here the infinitives have the article and the nouns do not. So the subject is the living and the dying, and Christ and gain are what is said about them. The English translations agree: 'to live is Christ, and to die is gain'. Paul is not making a statement about Christ, that he is alive, true as that is. He is making a statement about his own life: whatever living means for him, its content is Christ.

Notice also where ἐμοί stands. Greek word order is free, as Module 3 showed, and putting a word first often gives it weight, as Module 6 will discuss with appropriate cautions. Here Paul puts to me first. In the verses before, he has spoken of others who preach Christ from mixed motives (1:15-18), and of the Philippians' prayers for him (1:19). Now he speaks of himself, and many commentators hear a contrast in the placement: whatever it is for others, for me living is Christ. That is a reasonable reading of the emphasis. Do not make it bear more than it can; the fronted pronoun does not tell you who the others are.

Then the tenses. The living is present, the dying aorist, and it is very tempting to preach the difference: life is an ongoing process, death a single event. There is something true in that, and Paul may have felt it. But be careful, for two reasons the free tools let you check. First, the verb ζάω has only one infinitive in the whole SBLGNT, the present ζῆν, which occurs twelve times; no aorist infinitive of it appears at all. Paul did not choose the present over an aorist; it was the form there was. Second, the aorist is the usual infinitive for dying: ἀποθανεῖν appears sixteen times in the SBLGNT and the present ἀποθνῄσκειν five. So the contrast in Philippians 1:21 is largely the ordinary form of each verb. The Module 4 lesson on tense and aspect, with the debate it describes between Porter, Fanning and Campbell, applies here: aspect is real, but it is not a code a preacher can crack apart from usage. And the old claim that the aorist means once for all is a myth that Module 4 has already put to rest.

Philippians 1:21 uses the infinitive as a subject. That is one use of many, and your tools will label every infinitive the same way, V-PAN or V-AAN, leaving you to work out what it is doing. The following uses cover most of what you will meet, and each comes with a verse you can check on your phone.

Subject, as in Philippians 1:21, and again in Philippians 1:29, where Paul writes ὅτι ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη (hoti hymin echaristhē, because to you it was granted) and then names what was granted with two articular infinitives: οὐ μόνον τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν (ou monon to eis auton pisteuein alla kai to hyper autou paschein, not only the believing in him but also the suffering for him). The BSB renders it 'it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him'. Notice that ἐχαρίσθη is an aorist passive with no agent named, and lesson 1's question applies: who granted it? The context, which is about God's work in the Philippians from 1:6 onward, makes the answer plain.

Complementary, completing a verb that needs another verb to make sense, such as to be able, to want, to be about to. Matthew 2:13 has μέλλει γὰρ Ἡρῴδης ζητεῖν τὸ παιδίον (mellei gar Hērōdēs zētein to paidion, for Herod is about to search for the child), and James 4:2 has οὐ δύνασθε ἐπιτυχεῖν (ou dynasthe epitychein, you are not able to obtain). Purpose, often after a verb of motion, as in Matthew 5:17, οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι (ouk ēlthon katalysai alla plērōsai), 'I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them', or with the genitive article, as at the end of Matthew 2:13, τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτό (tou apolesai auto, in order to destroy it), or with εἰς τό, as in Romans 1:11, εἰς τὸ στηριχθῆναι ὑμᾶς (eis to stērichthēnai hymas), 'to strengthen you'.

Cause, with διὰ τό (dia to, because of the), as in James 4:2, οὐκ ἔχετε διὰ τὸ μὴ αἰτεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς (ouk echete dia to mē aiteisthai hymas), you do not have because you do not ask, which lesson 1 met for its middle voice. Time, with ἐν τῷ (en tō, while), πρὸ τοῦ (pro tou, before) or μετὰ τό (meta to, after): Mark 4:4 has ἐν τῷ σπείρειν (en tō speirein), 'as he was sowing', and Luke 22:15 ends πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν (pro tou me pathein), 'before My suffering'. And occasionally the infinitive stands alone as a command. Romans 12:15 reads χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων, κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων (chairein meta chairontōn, klaiein meta klaiontōn), and the BSB renders the two infinitives as imperatives: 'Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.'

Result, most clearly with ὥστε (hōste, so that, with the result that). Mark 2:12 ends ὥστε ἐξίστασθαι πάντας καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν θεόν (hōste existasthai pantas kai doxazein ton theon), and the BSB renders it 'As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God'. Here the two infinitives, ἐξίστασθαι (existasthai, to be astounded) and δοξάζειν (doxazein, to glorify), say what actually happened, with πάντας (pantas, all) in the accusative as their subject. Purpose says what someone intends; result says what follows. With ὥστε the meaning is usually result, but with εἰς τό it can be either, and that is where reading becomes judgment. Romans 15:13 is a good verse to practise on, because it gathers three things from this module into one prayer. It opens with the optative of wish from lesson 2, πληρώσαι (plērōsai, may he fill), then has ἐν τῷ πιστεύειν (en tō pisteuein), rendered 'as you believe in Him', and ends εἰς τὸ περισσεύειν ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἐλπίδι (eis to perisseuein hymas en tē elpidi), which the BSB renders 'so that you may overflow with hope'. Is the overflowing what Paul prays God intends, or what will follow when God fills them? English so that can carry both, and the Greek does not choose for you.

Several of those examples show the infinitive's own subject, as Mark 2:12 and Romans 15:13 just did. In James 4:2 the pronoun ὑμᾶς (hymas, you) is accusative, and it is the subject of the infinitive: because of your not asking. In Luke 22:15 the pronoun με (me, me) is accusative and is the subject of παθεῖν (pathein, to suffer): before my suffering. When you see an accusative pronoun or noun next to an infinitive and there is no other verb it could be the object of, try it as the subject. English usually has to turn the phrase into a clause with I, you or they.

Paul does not stop at verse 21. He goes on to weigh the two infinitives against each other, and the next three verses are among the most compressed in his letters. Verse 22 begins εἰ δὲ τὸ ζῆν ἐν σαρκί (ei de to zēn en sarki, but if the living in the flesh), and then, without a verb, τοῦτό μοι καρπὸς ἔργου (touto moi karpos ergou, this to me fruit of work). The Greek is so elliptical that translations differ more than usual. The KJV renders it 'But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour' (KJV). The BSB renders it 'But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.' Both are defensible; the Greek leaves the verbs to the reader, and a student who knows that will not build a sermon on a word in the English that is not in the Greek.

Verse 23 is where the grammar becomes theologically interesting. Paul says he is torn between the two, τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχων εἰς τὸ ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι (tēn epithymian echōn eis to analysai kai syn Christō einai, having the desire for the departing and being with Christ). One article, τό, governs two infinitives: ἀναλῦσαι (analysai, to depart), an aorist active infinitive of ἀναλύω (analyō, I depart, I loose), and εἶναι (einai, to be), the present infinitive of the verb to be. The verb ἀναλύω is used in Luke 12:36 of a master returning from a wedding feast, and the related noun in 2 Timothy 4:6 of Paul's own approaching departure. It is an ordinary word for leaving, and it carries no technical sense by itself.

Many interpreters argue that the single article binds the two infinitives into one prospect: departing-and-being-with-Christ, so that for Paul the moment of death and the presence of Christ belong together. On this reading the verse is strong evidence that the Christian dead are consciously with Christ before the resurrection, and it is often read with 2 Corinthians 5:8. Those who hold the view called soul sleep, or Christian mortalism, reply that the verse describes Paul's own expectation as he would experience it: if the dead are without consciousness until the resurrection, then the next thing a dying believer knows is Christ's presence, and departing and being with Christ would feel like one event even if, on earth's calendar, centuries separated them. Both sides read the same article and the same infinitives. The grammar shows that Paul held the two together in a single thought; it does not, by itself, settle what lies between them. The Systematic Theology track's lesson Death and the Intermediate State, which uses Philippians 1:23-24 as its anchor, sets out the full range of views and their texts.

Then verse 24 brings the choice back to the church. τὸ δὲ ἐπιμένειν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ἀναγκαιότερον δι’ ὑμᾶς (to de epimenein en tē sarki anankaioteron di hymas), 'But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body'. Another articular infinitive, ἐπιμένειν (epimenein, to remain), present active, and it is the subject of a verbless clause, exactly like the two in verse 21. Grammatically, Paul has now set three infinitives side by side: the living, the departing-and-being-with-Christ, and the remaining. The first he defines as Christ. The second he calls far better. The third he calls more necessary, because of you. The argument of the paragraph is carried by its infinitives, and verse 25 draws the conclusion: he is convinced that he will remain, for their progress and joy in the faith.

Philippians 1:21 is one of the most quoted verses in the church, and one of the most easily sentimentalised. The grammar helps a preacher avoid both the sentimental reading and the gloomy one.

First, the subject is living, not Christ. The verse is a claim about the content of a life. That means a preacher cannot simply announce it; he has to ask what the living of the person in front of him is actually made of. The inquiry asked you to complete the sentence honestly for yourself, and every congregation will contain people who would complete it with work, family, survival or fear. The verse does not shame them for that. It names what Paul's living was, in chains, and invites them to see what that would mean for theirs.

Second, dying is gain because of verse 23: the gain is being with Christ. Paul does not say that death is good, or that suffering is to be sought, or that this life is worthless. The same letter rejoices over the Philippians' gifts (4:10-18) and calls Epaphroditus's recovery a mercy from God (2:27). A preacher who uses verse 21 to make death sound attractive in itself has not read verse 23 closely enough.

Third, and pastorally important: verse 24 is where Paul's reasoning lands. Having said that departing would be far better for him, he concludes that remaining is more necessary because of other people. If you are ever with someone in deep despair who hears to die is gain as permission to want to die, this paragraph is not on their side. Paul chose to remain, for the sake of the people who needed him, and he expected to. Stay with that person, do not leave them alone, and help them reach someone who can keep them safe. The text and the pastor's duty agree.

Fourth, keep the setting in view. Paul is a prisoner awaiting a verdict. The verse is not a philosophical meditation on mortality. It is a man who could be executed within weeks saying that either outcome is in Christ's hands, and meaning it. That is the kind of sentence that can only be preached by someone who has thought about what it would cost to say it himself.

Open your verb table and add a column headed Infinitive. For every row your tool marks with N in the mood slot, write three things: whether it has the article and, if so, which case the article is in; any accusative word next to it that might be its subject; and its use, in one word, from this list: subject, object, complement, purpose, cause, time, result, command, or not sure.

For each articular infinitive, write the English phrase your Bible uses and then a second rendering of your own using an -ing word: the living, the departing, because of your not asking. Saying the infinitive as a noun in English will often show you its function more plainly than the to form does.

If your passage has an infinitive after εἰς τό or πρὸς τό, ask whether it expresses purpose, so that, or result, with the result that. Grammarians often debate exactly this, and the difference can matter: is Paul saying what God intends, or what happens? Write both renderings and a note on which the context favours.

Finally, look again at the verbless clauses in your passage, if it has any. Lesson 2 showed you a Greek sentence's mood; this lesson has shown you that some Greek sentences have no finite verb at all. Where your English Bible has supplied is, are or was, put a small bracket around it in your notebook. When you come to the capstone, you will want to know which words in your translation are the translator's and which are the author's.