[B-Greek] Re.. Imperfect and Aorist Aspects!

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Wed Sep 6 14:49:46 EDT 2006


On Sep 6, 2006, at 9:46 AM, Webb wrote:
>
> I'm not sure I agree with this as an exception to the typical  
> function of
> the imperfect. Is there any particular reason not to take what is  
> going on
> here as follows:
>
> Lots of people believed in him when he said these things. So Jesus was
> saying to the Jews who'd come to believe in him, ...
>
> There's nothing dramatically different either in English or in  
> Greek between
> "So Jesus was saying" and "So Jesus said...", and there will  
> inevitably be
> contexts in which either could fill the bill more or less equally  
> well. But
> on what basis does one detect that the nuance is NOT there?

JOHN 8:30 TAUTA AUTOU LALOUNTOS POLLOI EPISTEUSAN EIS AUTON.  31
ELEGEN OUN hO IHSOUS PROS TOUS PEPISTEUKOTAS AUTWi IOUDAIOUS: EAN
hUMEIS MEINHTE EN TWi LOGWi TWi EMWi, ALHQWS MAQHTAI MOU ESTE  32 KAI
GNWSESQE THN ALHQEIAN, KAI hH ALHQEIA ELEUQERWSEI hUMAS.

Perhaps I have over drawn the contrast. A marked use of the imperfect  
does not imply that it will knock you out of your chair. The  
distinction may be quite subtle. What Levinshon points out is that  
there is no reason to view ELEGEN in Jn 8:31 as an incomplete action.  
He offers an alternative suggestion, that the imperfect is used here  
to background Jesus statement.

R.E.Brown (John AB) delineates Jn 8:31-59 as a "scene". The opening  
words of a new scene are often put in the background and provide a  
sort of launching point for the following action. Jesus statement  
here ties the following scene to the preceding scene, note the  
addressees, PROS TOUS PEPISTEUKOTAS AUTWi IOUDAIOUS, are participants  
in the previous scene. Jesus' statement sparks a lengthily dispute  
that unfolds in the following scene. Therefore, I can see the logic  
in Levinshon's suggestion that ELEGEN might be used here to  
background Jesus statement. However, I am not absolutely convinced  
that this analysis is going to answer all the questions about the  
imperfect ELEGEN in JOHN 8:31.

This explanation assumes a fair degree of familiarity with NT text  
linguistics. You should see the publications by S.Levinshon, R.Buth,  
C.Westfall for detailed expositions of foreground, background, point  
of departure ...


Elizabeth Kline







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