[B-Greek] John 1:12-13 - translating the participle

Eric Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Thu Aug 14 11:49:20 EDT 2003


John 1:12-13 is usually translated (NASB used here):

"But as many as received (ELABON - aorist finite) Him, to them he gave (EDWKEN - aorist finite) the right to become (GENESQAI - aorist infinitive) children of God, even to those who believe (PISTEUOUSIN - present participle) in His name, who were born (EGENNHQHSAN - aorist finite) not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

As I understand things, the present participle does not have a time sense, but rather has a continuous aspect. Since all the other verbs in these verses are aorist and likely have a past time sense from the author's perspective, should PISTEUOUSIN be translated in some manner as a past tense (I don't know how you'd best be able to do this in English and retain the continuous aspect of the participle)? Or are these finite aorist verbs gnomic(?) aorists, and hence what John wrote isn't restricted to being about what happened in the past to those in Jesus' lifetime who believed in Him, but is true for anyone at anytime who believes in Him -- and hence the "present tense" translation of the participle is warranted? Or are there other options/explanations?

Eric S. Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
http://home1.gte.net/vzn05pnm/index.htm




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