[B-Greek] present participle in 1 tim 5:20

waldo slusher waldoslusher at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 16 14:35:25 EST 2004


David:

I have to fight being too dogmatic at times, but I
think I'm on safe ground by saying that in THIS
passage there is no element of a "continuous idea"
associated with TOUS hAMARTANONTAS. This seems pretty
clearly referring to those elders that have in fact
sinned; they must be rebuked before all. As a personal
rule, whenever I run across a Present Tense anything,
I do not see a "continuous idea" unless other
contextual factors leave me no reasonable alternative.

Waldo


--- David Wright <dkwbibgreek at nelmezzo.net> wrote:
> I'm curious to hear opinions on the present
> participle TOUS hAMARTANONTAS in 1 
> Tim 5:20.
> 
> 1.  What is the significance of the present tense
> here, given that this is a substantival 
> use?
> A.  Does the aspect of the present tense here imply
> a continuous idea?  i.e., those 
> who continue to sin
> B.  Or if not, why not? i.e., it's merely: those who
> sin
> C.  Or is it not possible to tell?
> 
> 2.  Does anyone have any general guidance on aspect
> in substantival participle?
> I found this in Wallace's "Greek Grammar Beyond the
> Basics" (I can't give the page, 
> because my book is at home and I getting the quote
> online, but it's from Wallace's 
> chapter on participles):
> 
>     In particular when a participle is substantival,
> its aspectual force is more 
>     susceptible to reduction in force.
> 
>     Secondly, many substantival participles in the
> NT are used in generic 
>     utterances. The pa'" oJ ajkouvwn (or ajgapw'n,
> poiw'n, etc.) formula is always 
>     or almost always generic. As such it is expected
> to involve a gnomic idea.7 
>     Most of these instances involve the present
> participle.8 But if they are already 
>     gnomic, we would be 
> 
>     616
> 
>     hard-pressed to make something more out of
> them-such as a progressive 
>     idea. Thus, for example, in Matt 5:28, "everyone
> who looks at a woman" (pa'" 
>     oJ blevpwn gunai'ka) with lust in his heart does
> not mean "continually 
>     looking" or "habitually looking," any more than
> four verses later "everyone 
>     who divorces his wife" (pa'" oJ ajpoluvwn thVn
> gunai'ka aujtou') means 
>     "repeatedly divorces"! This is not to deny a
> habitual Aktionsart in such 
>     gnomic statements. But it is to say that caution
> must be exercised. In the 
>     least, we should be careful not to make
> statements such as, "The present 
>     participle blevpwn [in Matt 5:28] characterizes
> the man by his act of 
>     continued looking." This may well be the meaning
> of the evangelist, but the 
>     present participle, by itself, can hardly be
> forced into this mold.
> 
> Does anyone care to elaborate or comment?
> 
> Thank you!
> ==========================
> David Wright
> dkwbibgreek at nelmezzo.net
> 
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek


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