[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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