[B-Greek] John 17 DEDWKAS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Oct 28 06:04:00 EDT 2004


At 9:43 AM +0200 10/28/04, Wieland Willker wrote:
>In John 17 no less than 17 times forms of DIDWMI like DEDWKAS, DEDWKA,
>EDWKAS etc. appear.
>I am wondering if there is a difference in meaning between the Aorist
>and the Perfect. Why those changes from Aorist to Perfect? Compare:
>John 17:2 KAQWS EDWKAS AUTW EXOUSIAN PASHS SARKOS, INA PAN O DEDWKAS
>AUTW DWSH AUTOIS ZWHN AIWNION.
>17:4 EGW SE EDOXASA EPI THS GHS TO ERGON TELEIWSAS O DEDWKAS MOI INA
>POIHSW,
>17:6 EFANERWSA SOU TO ONOMA TOIS ANQRWPOIS OUS EDWKAS MOI EK TOU KOSMOU.
>SOI HSAN KAMOI AUTOUS EDWKAS KAI TON LOGON SOU TETHRHKAN.
>17:7 NUN EGNWKAN OTI PANTA OSA DEDWKAS MOI PARA SOU EISIN,
>17:8 OTI TA RHMATA A EDWKAS MOI DEDWKA AUTOIS
>...

Well, for what it's worth, my own judgment is that the author of GJn
appears sometimes to use the perfect tense deliberately with emphasis upon
the stative present, but that on the other hand he perhaps provides more
evidence than most GNT authors of the tendency of the aorist to supplant
the perfect in the indicative so that any real distinction between the
perfect as stative and the aorist as perfective has become moot. I really
don't believe that there's any aspectual difference between EDWKAS and
DEDWKAS in 17:2 or in the other aorists and perfects in these verses. I'd
convey them all in English with the auxiliary "have" and the participle.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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