[B-Greek] Translation of Aorist Indicative Verbs in 1 John2:12-14

Benjamin Pehrson benjamin_pehrson at sil.org
Sun Jun 4 16:55:47 EDT 2006


Dear Steve,

I should have said "ethical peak in 4:7-21."

Also, "(short?)" was my own addition to the quote from Longacre in my
attempt to clarify what I think Longacre was saying.

Benjamin Pehrson


> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-
> bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Benjamin Pehrson
> Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 3:45 PM
> To: 'B-Greek'
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Translation of Aorist Indicative Verbs in 1
> John2:12-14
> 
> Dear Steve,
> 
> I'll pass on what Robert Longacre says about the distribution of GRAPHW in
> his article "Towards an Exegesis of 1 John Based on the Discourse Analysis
> of the Greek Text" in Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation, ed. by
> David A. Black, Nashville: Broadman (1992) 271-86. Longacre has a more
> detailed analysis in his article "Exhortation and Mitigation in First
> John"
> in Selected Technical Articles Related to Translation, 9, Dallas: Summer
> Institute of Linguistics (1983): 3-44. Longacre's specialty is discourse
> linguistics, where the distribution of tense/aspect/mood often provides
> some
> kind of indication of discourse type and/or a shift in the development of
> the plot/argument of a discourse. His analysis seems appropriate as an
> answer to your question since you asked about why John is repeating
> himself
> in 2:12-14.
> 
> Regarding the repetition in 2:12-14 is probably best explained because
> this
> is part of a paragraph 2:12-17 that should be considered a peak in the
> introduction of the letter. Peak is a notion from discourse linguistics
> that
> is associated with the climax of narrative discourse, but it is also
> identified in non-narrative discourse types. It is usually marked by
> various
> kinds of linguistic shifts that heighten the excitement and importance of
> the text (i.e. change in participants, change of vantage point,
> tense/aspect/mood, sentence length, repetition, change in verb ratio,
> increased number of imperatives in hortatory discourse). A discourse may
> have more than one peak. Since 1 John is a mitigated hortatory text with
> relatively few imperative verbs (3.5%, the lowest in the whole NT),
> Longacre
> takes the first imperative of the whole letter in 2:15 to express "a peak
> of
> practical and ethical exhortation." Longacre finds two peaks in the
> introduction (ethical peak in 2:12-17 and doctrinal in 2:18-27) and two in
> the body (doctrinal peak in 4:1-6 and doctrinal peak in 4:7-21).
> 
> Regarding the shift from present to aorist tense in 2:12-14, Longacre
> notes
> that GRAPHW occurs in the introduction and conclusion of 1 John, but not
> in
> the body. He admits that this makes for a lengthy introduction (1:1-2:29)
> compared to the body (3:1-5:12), but he maintains that the introduction
> contains most of themes that are covered in the body and that the
> introduction may have its own performative peak material that occurs in
> 2:12-14 (considering the large number of performative verbs and vocatives)
> but leading up to 2:15-17 as the nucleus of the whole paragraph 2:12-17
> (1983:13). Longacre notes that 2:12-14 marks a shift in the tense of
> GRAPHW
> not only for this paragraph but for the entire letter (cf. present tense
> in
> 1:4; 2:1,7,12,13 with aorist tense in 2:14,21,26; 5:13). He writes:
> 
> "It is possible to argue here that the apostle begins with the sense of
> writing only a (short?) letter. After he has gone past a certain point, he
> is able to view the letter as something of an event that is completed, or
> at
> least reasonably sure of being completed. This would then account for the
> difference between the continuative thrust of the present ("I am writing")
> and the sense of completion in the aorist ("I have written").
> 	"My claim, then, is that the contribution of the verb GRAPHW
> ("write") is such that we can claim that the first two chapters are
> introductory material, despite the heavy weaving in of thematic material
> that characterizes the body of the book as a whole. Not only is the verb
> GRAPHW found but other performatives as well, so that in these two
> chapters
> the speech situation ("I am writing to you") is foregrounded." (1992:277)
> 
> Well, that's what Longacre says about it from the perspective of discourse
> linguistics, sometimes referred to as textlinguistics.
> 
> Grace & peace,
> Benjamin Pehrson
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-
> > bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve Hulme
> > Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 7:19 AM
> > To: B-Greek
> > Subject: [B-Greek] Translation of Aorist Indicative Verbs in 1 John
> 2:12-
> > 14
> >
> > Dr. Conrad,
> >
> > Thanks for your tip about the need to send messages in plain text format
> > to this list.  Indeed, I had sent the blank message in MIME format.
> >
> > To all,
> >
> > Here's the original question:
> >
> > 1 John 2:12 and 2:13 use the present tense of the indicative three
> times:
> > "GRAFW hUMIN, TEKNIA...GRAFW hUMIN, PATERES...GRAFW hUMIN, NEANISKOI"
> > In 1 John 2:14, the author switches to the aorist indicative "EGRAYA
> > hUMIN",
> > again repeated three times.
> >
> > I have two questions:  first, the New Jerusalem Bible translates these
> > verses as
> > I would have, assigning the action of the present tense indicativeGRAFW
> to
> > the
> > present time, and the action of EGRAYA to the past:
> >
> > "12 I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven
> > through
> > his name.  13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to
> know
> > the
> > One who has existed since the beginning. I am writing to you, young
> > people,
> > because you have overcome the Evil One.  14 I have written to you,
> > children,
> > because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you,
> parents,
> > because you have come to know the One who has existed since the
> beginning.
> > I
> > have written to you, young people, because you are strong, and God's
> word
> > remains in you, and you have overcome the Evil One. "
> >
> > However, the Revised Standard and the New Revised Standard Version
> > translate
> > both forms, present and aorist, with the English present tense, but
> > differentiating the "aspect" of the action:
> >
> > "12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
> > for his
> > sake.  13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from
> > the
> > beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the
> > evil
> > one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.  14 I write
> to
> > you,
> > fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you,
> > young
> > men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you
> > have
> > overcome the evil one. "
> >
> > Certainly, the Greek *perfect *tense can often have a present meaning,
> > since it
> > denotes a state that started in the past and is still true now.  OIDA is
> > an
> > example.  But I can't think of an example of the Greek aorist in the
> > indicative
> > mood denoting anything other than "the simple occurence of an action in
> > past
> > time; as in EGRAYA, I wrote." (Godwin's  Moods and Tenses, p. 16).
> >
> > However, the  RSV and NRSV translators surely knew Greek better than I,
> > so
> > perhaps there is some point that I've overlooked.  Can someone help me
> out
> > here?
> >
> > And the greater question is "why is John repeating himself  in verse 14?
> > what
> > point is he trying to make?"
> >
> > thanks in advance
> >
> > Steve Hulme
> > Raleigh, NC
> >
> > ---
> > 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
> 
> ---
> 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




More information about the B-Greek mailing list