μαρτυρῆσαι (marturesai) in Revelation 22:16: Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
μαρτυρῆσαι (marturesai) in Revelation 22:16
Textual Witness
The witness reads μαρτυρῆσαι in Revelation 22:16, within the clause about Jesus sending his messenger.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports reading the clause as mission-oriented testimony, helping the verse emphasize Jesus' deliberate sending of witness to the churches.
How To Communicate It
For readers, the grammar clarifies that the messenger's task is to communicate and confirm the revealed message for the churches.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- An infinitive here points to intended action, but the surrounding clause supplies the specific sense.
- Do not turn grammatical gender, case, or tense into theological claims beyond what the verse supports.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an action or state, here the action of testifying rather than a thing or person.
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.
Infinitive: the form is not marked for singular or plural in the way a finite verb is.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It follows ἔπεμψα τὸν ἄγγελόν μου and is linked to the sending statement.
It is governed by the prior verb of sending, which expresses purpose for the messenger's mission.
The infinitive expresses the intended activity of the angel, namely to testify these things to the churches.
It does not by itself state that the testimony has already happened, nor does it identify the messenger as the speaker.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The infinitive states the purpose of Jesus sending his angel to testify to the churches.
Aorist active infinitive. explains the messenger's intended task, to testify these things to the churches. Attached to the sending clause about Jesus' angel. Governed by the verb for sending. The sending clause supplies purpose force; the infinitive names the testimonial action.
Why did Jesus send his angel in this clause? He sent his angel to testify these things to the churches.
Direct: The infinitive directly supports to testify or to bear witness.
The infinitive should be read from the sending clause, not as an independent finite verb. Aorist infinitive form does not decide every timing detail of the testimony. The content and recipients of testimony are named by the surrounding words.
Infinitive alone proves purpose apart from context: Purpose is clear here because the infinitive follows the sending statement. aorist means once-for-all testimony: Aorist aspect should not be used to overstate the mode or scope of testimony.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads μαρτυρῆσαι in Revelation 22:16, within the clause about Jesus sending his messenger.
The lemma μαρτυρέω means to testify or bear witness, so the form carries the idea of witness-bearing.
The infinitive after ἔπεμψα naturally presents the sending as oriented toward testimony, not as a separate assertion.
Jesus says he sent his messenger to bear witness about these things to the churches.
This fits the wider theme of Revelation, where testimony confirms what Jesus reveals to his people.
In translation and teaching, the form can be rendered with purpose language such as to testify or to bear witness.
Do not derive tense-like timing beyond the intended mission, and do not treat the infinitive as an independent main verb.