[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
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