An Exploration of Conditional Clause Exegesis 369 example the imperfective aspect of the present indicative allows it to be used in ways which encompass a portion of the future (e.g. gnomic use). In first class conditions, the force of the indicative is modified by the presence of eij. This introduces a hypothetical element (17) which pushes the indicative towards the realm of projection. Such uses of the indicative no longer make assertions in the normal sense, but as Wallace puts it, they “address an argument from certainty” (18). Because what is stated is presented as part of an argument, the speaker may quite acceptably assert something (“for the sake of argument”) (19) which neither they nor their hearers believe to be true. The suggestion of certain grammarians that first class conditions can be translated using “since” rather than “if” demonstrates the perception in some quarters that the protasis of such a clause actually corresponds to reality, or at the very least to the speaker’s beliefs about reality. BDF suggests that first class clauses are “predominantly used with reference to a present or alleged reality” (20) and eij is said to “border on causal ‘since’” (21). There is no useful sense in which such a statement could be referred to as a condition. Goodwin rightly suggests that “the Greek has no form implying that a condition is or was fulfilled, and it is hardly conceivable that any language should find such a form necessary or useful” (22). Boyer has convincingly demonstrated that in the New Testament first class conditions vary greatly in their relationship to reality (23). Frequently, first class conditions have protases that are clearly untrue, and for many others the truth of the protasis is not known. Boyer therefore proposes that first class conditions just demonstrate logical connection; nothing is implied as to the fulfilment or the probability of the protasis (24). Porter suggests that since all conditions imply logical (17) See BDAG, 277. (18) WALLACE, Grammar, 446 n. 2. (19) See PORTER, Verbal Aspect, 294. (20) BDF, 188. (21) BDF, 189. (22) GOODWIN, Syntax, §391. WALLACE, Grammar, 692, points out that the NT writers had other words (such as ejpeiv) to express causal links, as represented by “since” in English. (23) J.L. BOYER, “First Class Conditions: What Do They Mean?”, GTJ 2/1 (1981) 77. See also L.W. LEDGERWOOD III, “What does the Greek First Class Conditional Imply? Gricean Methodology and the Testimony of the Ancient Greek Grammarians”, GTJ 12/1 (1991)118-119. (24) BOYER, “First Class Conditions”, 82.