[B-Greek] Participle in the Aorist

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Oct 5 12:15:57 EDT 2005


On Oct 5, 2005, at 11:55 AM, Eric Biggs wrote:

> Hello List,
>
> I have a question concerning the Participle in the Aorist tense,  
> paticularly in Romans 5:9:
>
> POLLWi OUN MALLON DIKAIWQENTES NUN EN TWi hAIMATI AUTOU SWQHSOMEQA  
> DI AUTOU APO THS ORGHS
> Now the Aorist usually shows antecedent action to the main verb.   
> DIKAIWQENTES the Aorist Participle and SWQHSOMEQA the main verb,  
> which being in the future tense might really solidify the  
> antecedent action of the participle.  However, Dana and Mantey  
> explain that the Participle in the Aorist tense "frequently  
> expresses contemporaneous or subsequent action" (p. 230).  I rule  
> out the subsequent action in the example given of Romans 5:9, but I  
> was wondering if this might be seen as contemporaneous due to the  
> NUN with the Aorist Participle making it emphatic of "now  
> (currently) being justified"?

My sense is that the NUN functions as a logical indicator here: yes,  
DIKAIWQENTES indicates a present fact as much as would a perfect ptc.  
DEDIKAIWMENOI: i.e. "our current status is righteousness attributed,  
and for that reason our status-to-be is salvation from wrath ..."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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