toward a definition of Verbal Apect

Jonathan Robie jonathan.robie at datadirect-technologies.com
Mon Nov 4 13:07:13 EST 2002


At 09:30 AM 11/4/2002 -0500, Norman Goos wrote:

>Allow me to ask for a clarification.  I am in a denomination where the 
>punctilliar idea in the Aorist has been used to defend all sorts of 
>"once-for-all" actions, a notion that still persists in many circles.  How 
>would one explain that this "once-for-all-ness" is not automatically part 
>of the Aorist aspect, without removing the idea that it "usually indicates 
>past time?"  It seems to be that the balance here is not as simply as it 
>sometimes is made to appear.  Thanks for your time.

I would simply look through the New Testament, especially narrative prose, 
looking for Aorist verbs, and see if they fit the proposed interpretation. 
When I read your email, I started with Luke, and the first one that caught 
my attention was this:

Luke 1:39 ANASTASA DE MARIAM EN TAIS hHMERAIS TAUTAIS EPOREUQH EIS THN 
OREINHN META SPOUDHS EIS POLIN IOUDA, KAI ***EISHLQN*** EIS TON OIKON 
ZACARIOU KAI HSPASATO THN ELISABET.

If this Aorist verb depicts Mary entering the house of Zecharius, then we 
ask ourselves if the context indicates that she entered the house "once and 
for all". If she did, then I gather she never left the house, but if you 
keep reading, you see Mary going from place to place.

Jonathan




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