[B-Greek] Periphrastic construction in Jn 3:28

RRedden604 at aol.com RRedden604 at aol.com
Fri Feb 24 20:17:34 EST 2006


Considering the nature of the question, I think Robb was hoping for  more.  
What is the significance of the perfect tense in John  3:28?    Turner (83) 
sees the abundance of perfects in John  intentional.  "We may ascribe this to the 
peculiar style of the Fourth  Gospel, its love of emphasis and solemnity, its 
stress on the abiding  significance of everything."  To say as Morris ( 240) 
that John's use  of the perfect in John 3:28 "may be meant to indicate that 
his permanent  character was that of a man of God sent from God (1:6) to be the 
forerunner of  the Messiah" seems to be squeezing more out of the perfect than 
is there!
 
I would like someone who is much more advanced than I am  to  point out the 
meaning of the perfect tense in the GNT compared with the  Classical use.  Has 
the perfect infringed upon the Aorist domain, and lost  some of its resultant 
punch by the first century?   Have some of  the elementary Greek grammars done 
more harm than good in defining the perfect  tense simply as denoting the 
present state resultant upon a past action?  (Machen)
 
Rob Redden



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