The full quote "
attributed" to L. XXXX is not available for reading, note: "if it is a punctilear action… the present tense"
“Regarding the difference between the present participle and the present tense, there is a distinct difference. When a writer uses the participle he does not envisage the termination of the action. It will go on and on indefinitely, or be repeated continuously, if it is a punctilear action… the present tense is used the writer sees the action as going on to be completed. It is not an open-ended action, the way that the participle is.
1 John 3:8 uses the participle, not the tense, so that its meaning is: “he that goes-on-sinning is of the devil.” It refers to a habitual action. If John had used the present tense, then he would have been referring to a particular situation, a one-off situation, and mean: “he that sins [in this particular instance] is of the devil.” The one-off situation could be an action proposed by some professing Christian leader to allow a man to divorce his wife.
John would be totally opposed to such an action taking place. So the use of the present tense, in this instance, would be a strong warning to the Church leader not to go ahead with his proposed, one-off action. So in using the present tense, the writer is always thinking of a specific action in the present time (or near future). If he used the participle then he would be saying that if the Church leader goes-on-divorcing [i.e., open-endedly] Christian couples, as a habit or policy, then he is of the devil.”
http://morechristlike.com/koine-greek-p ... articiple/
See also Dana & Manty p. 186 "the static present" ... "may be used to represent a condition which is assumed as perpetually exisiting" example 1 John 3:8.
C. Stirling Bartholomew