δεῖξαι (deixai) in Revelation 22:6: Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
δεῖξαι (deixai) in Revelation 22:6
Textual Witness
The witness reads δεῖξαι in Revelation 22:6 within the clause about God sending his angel to his servants.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form strengthens the verse's sense of commissioned disclosure and makes the sending of the angel purposeful rather than incidental.
How To Communicate It
It helps communicate that revelation is an act of intended making-known, with the servants as recipients of the disclosed message.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- An infinitive can indicate purpose here, but the clause and verse context remain decisive for meaning.
- Do not turn grammatical features into theological claims beyond what the passage states.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an action or state, and here it expresses the action of showing or making known.
Aorist: commonly views the action as a whole event. It should not be treated as automatically punctiliar or automatically past in every context.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Infinitive: names the verbal idea without finite person. It often works as purpose, result, complement, or explanation in context.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Not applicable: this infinitive does not mark number in the way a noun or adjective does.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It is attached to ἀπέστειλε and the phrase τὸν ἄγγελον αὐτοῦ.
It is governed by the sending idea in the clause, which presents the angel as sent for the purpose of showing what must soon happen.
It functions as an infinitive of purpose or intended result, explaining why God sent his angel.
It does not function as the main finite verb of the verse, and it does not by itself state who is acting apart from the surrounding clause.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The infinitive states the purpose of God sending his angel in a climactic revelation passage.
Aorist active infinitive. explains the aim of the sending, namely to show the servants what must happen. Attached to the sending clause about God's angel. Governed by the finite verb for sending. The infinitive carries purpose force because of the clause it follows, not because every infinitive always does so.
Why was the angel sent in this clause? He was sent to show God's servants the things that must soon take place.
Direct: The infinitive directly supports a rendering such as to show or to make known.
The infinitive relation should be read from the sending clause, not from the morphology label alone. Aorist infinitive form does not decide the timing details of the events being shown. Active voice identifies the verbal form, but the clause identifies God as sender and the angel as the sent messenger.
Infinitive always proves purpose apart from context: Purpose is clear here because the infinitive follows the sending clause. aorist means once-for-all disclosure: Aorist aspect should not be used to overstate the mode or completeness of the showing.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads δεῖξαι in Revelation 22:6 within the clause about God sending his angel to his servants.
The lemma δείκνυμι means to show, make known, or point out, so the form carries the idea of disclosure.
As an infinitive after ἀπέστειλε, it naturally describes the aim of the sending, namely to show the servants the things that must happen soon.
The verse presents revelation as purposeful communication: God sends his angel so that the coming events may be disclosed to his servants.
This fits the wider book's pattern of mediated revelation, where what is hidden is made known by divine initiative.
For readers and teachers, the form supports the plain idea that the message is meant to be delivered and understood, not merely observed.
Do not infer from the verb form alone that every detail of timing, visibility, or audience scope is settled beyond the verse's own wording.