The article in 1John 2:27

[John The Baptist]

This is a rather small and technical question about the Greek of this verse.

Halfway through… also sorry for improper breathing marks and accents, I do not know how to put the proper ones.

…ώς τό αύτου χρίσμα…

Why is the article neuter nom/acc? I’m assuming it corresponds to the noun χρίσμα. If that’s the case, why is it in front of the pronoun and what is the significance?

I was noticing how the verb in the last part of the sentence, έδίδαζεν, was translated as ‘he teaches’ or ‘it teaches,’ relating back to the anointing. Context seems to push for ‘it,’ but I wanted to investigate this article before I came to that conclusion.

Also, bonus:
μένετε is indicative, so would it be better translated,
‘As it/he teaches you, you remain in him’ being a matter of fact, not a command for the believers? Or does context push us to translate it as a command, rather than a fact, regardless of the indicative mood?

Thanks for the assistance. Being a first semester Greek student leaves me with a lot of questions

 

[Contra_Mundum]

The rendering in English is "(just) as the same anointing...." The article corresponds to the noun. The αὐτοῦ (this one) is laying a kind of emphasis on the noun.

The "action" is done by the anointing, hence the verb is 3S.

Indicative is not imperative (command). It describes what is, or in this case, what follows invariably from the cause.

 

[John The Baptist]

The rendering in English is "(just) as the same anointing...." The article corresponds to the noun. The αὐτοῦ (this one) is laying a kind of emphasis on the noun.

The "action" is done by the anointing, hence the verb is 3S.

Indicative is not imperative (command). It describes what is, or in this case, what follows invariably from the cause.

Thank you for the insight into the ‘sameness’ emphasis. I looked back at my textbook and sure enough when αυτος is in the attributive position it can possibly be translated that way.

I was asking about the indicative because it is usually translated as a command. For example, the ESV:

“Just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

Rather than ‘just as it has taught you, you abide in him’ where the abiding is a statement of fact, not a command

 

[SeanPatrickCornell]

I was asking about the indicative because it is usually translated as a command. For example, the ESV:

“Just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

Rather than ‘just as it has taught you, you abide in him’ where the abiding is a statement of fact, not a command

I did a sampling of this verse in Bible Gateway and it seems that it's all over the place whether a translation renders this as indicative or imperative.

NIV - Imperative
NASB - Present indicative
KJV - Future indicative
NKJV - Future indicative
ESV - Imperative
LSB - Imperative
HCSB - Imperative
CSB - Imperative

 

[John The Baptist]

I did a sampling of this verse in Bible Gateway and it seems that it's all over the place whether a translation renders this as indicative or imperative.

NIV - Imperative
NASB - Present indicative
KJV - Future indicative
NKJV - Future indicative
ESV - Imperative
LSB - Imperative
HCSB - Imperative
CSB - Imperative

Hmmm. Thank you for searching. Is there any reason for translating Present active indicative as an imperative? Other than context (for example, here teaching is being spoken of which has an inherent imperative meaning to it)?

In v.24, μείνη is imperative, so the use of the indicative in v27 seems purposeful.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

There's no difference in the form of the word, be it indicative or imperative. Hence, it's a translational choice, an educated guess as to which John meant.

WRT SPC's noting that some versions posit a future tense (std. μενεῖτε): might have to chalk that up to textual variant, translator gloss, or scholar hypothesis.

 

[John The Baptist]

There's no difference in the form of the word, be it indicative or imperative. Hence, it's a translational choice, an educated guess as to which John meant.

Thanks. I haven’t gone over any imperative in my classes, so I was just basing it off of the interlinear.