καλέσεις (kaleseis) in Matthew 1:21: Verb Second Person Singular Future Active Indicative
καλέσεις (kaleseis) in Matthew 1:21
Textual Witness
The Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus reads καλέσεις in Matthew 1:21 within the naming clause.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form keeps the focus on Joseph's instructed response and on the announced name, while the verse context supplies the saving meaning.
How To Communicate It
In communication, the form can be rendered simply as a future naming instruction: Joseph is to call the child Jesus.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make future tense or second person singular carry more theology than the sentence itself supports.
- Do not treat verbal person, number, or mood as a substitute for the verse's actual wording about birth, naming, and salvation.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the word names an action of calling or naming, and here it functions within a direct command or prediction.
Future: points the action forward from the speaker's viewpoint, while the sentence controls the exact sense.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Indicative: presents the verbal idea as an assertion or statement in the clause.
Second person: the hearer or hearers are grammatically addressed by the verbal form.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Singular: the form is singular and addresses one person in the sentence, namely Joseph.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It stands with καὶ and governs τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν as its naming object.
The future indicative form presents the naming as the expected action directed to Joseph in the announced sequence of events.
It contributes the instruction to assign the child's name, linking the naming to the announced birth and saving purpose.
It does not by itself identify who Jesus is in full or expand the name's meaning beyond the surrounding sentence.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The future verb gives Joseph the naming action tied to the child's saving purpose.
Second-person singular future active indicative with directive force. directs Joseph to name the child Jesus. Attached to Joseph and the naming object Jesus. Governed by the angelic instruction about the child's birth and name. The future form functions within an instruction; the reason clause explains the saving significance of the name.
What is Joseph told to do? He is told to name the child Jesus.
Direct: The second-person future directly supports English wording such as "you shall call."
The future form here works inside angelic instruction; it should not be treated as a detached prediction only.
Future indicative must be only prediction: Context can give the future directive force; the angelic speech tells Joseph what to do.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus reads καλέσεις in Matthew 1:21 within the naming clause.
The lemma καλέω can mean call, summon, or name, and this context uses the naming sense.
The second person singular form fits the address to Joseph, while the future indicative frames the naming as part of the announced course of events.
Joseph is told that he will name the child Jesus, and that naming is linked to the child's saving mission.
The form supports the broader biblical pattern in which naming can mark identity and calling without making the grammar carry the whole theological claim.
For readers and teachers, the form helps show that the sentence is not only about birth but also about assigned identity and mission.
Do not derive that the verb alone defines the child's nature, cancels the role of context, or turns grammatical person into a doctrinal conclusion.