Present tence copulative verbs
Presept
presept at earthlink.net
Wed Aug 26 00:00:37 EDT 1998
Dear Mr. Stafford,
I stand corrected on the distinction between a Perfective Present and a Present of Past Action still in Progress. You are right. My mistake. I had in mind the Present of Past Action still in Progress when I wrote my comments.
I don't think the picture I tried to describe came across very well. Jesus didn't say "Since Abraham came into existence, I have been." He said "Before Abraham came into existence..." Notice that in PPAs a beginning is stated or implied. Jn 8:58 does not have this. What we have in Jn 8:58 is a case of Antecedent time. R.A. Young states in his grammar on page 166, "Antecedent time means that the action of the main verb takes place before the action expressed by the infinitive. To convey this idea, "before" is used at the beginning of the adverbial clause." Notice also in this context that EGW EIMI is used two other times in verses 24 and 28 with the meaning I Am. In all three uses of EGW EIMI in this context, A.T.Robertson calls an absolute use of EIMI. This same idiom is used in Psalm 90:2: "PRO TOU ORH GENHQHNAI...SU EI." This would not be translated as 'You have been.' Also, in Jn 8:58 and Psalm 90:2, there is a contrast between EIMI and GINOMAI. Please see Ron Henzel's post 8-14-96 entitled 'Jn 8:58 and the subordinating adverbial particle.'
-James Stewart
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