[B-Greek] The present tense in Hebrews 6:4-6
Eric Weiss
papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 24 12:21:29 EST 2007
Heb 6:4 ADUNATON GAR TOUS hAPAX FWTISQENTAS, GEUSAMENOUS TE THS
DWREAS THS EPOURANIOU KAI METOCOUS GENHQENTAS PNEUMATOS hAGIOU
5 KAI KALON GEUSAMENOUS QEOU hRHMA DUNAMEIS TE MELLONTOS AIWNOS
6 KAI PARAPESONTAS, PALIN ANAKAINIZEIN EIS METANOIAN, ANASTAUROUNTAS
hEAUTOIS TON hUION TOU QEOU KAI PARADEIGMATIZONTAS.
It's tough to summarize my thoughts - and these are incomplete.
The logical structure seems to be:
ADUNATON GAR PALIN ANAKAINIZEIN EIS METANOIAN
TOUS:
- hAPAX FWTISQENTAS
- GEUSAMENOUS TE THS DWREAS THS EPOURANIOU
- KAI METOCOUS GENHQENTAS PNEUMATOS hAGIOU
- KAI KALON GEUSAMENOUS QEOU hRHMA DUNAMEIS TE MELLONTOS AIWNOS
- KAI PARAPESONTAS (separated in thought, because the previous participles are positive
aspects of regeneration and salvation, and this is a negative act following those - the word
"then" or "afterwards") might be implied)
ANASTAUROUNTAS hEAUTOIS TON hUION TOU QEOU
KAI PARADEIGMATIZONTAS
It seems to me that if ANASTAUROUNTAS and PARADEIGMATIZONTAS were simply
equated in the author's mind with their act of PARAPESONTAS - "having fallen away" (or
"having sinned," if the meaning should be seen in PARAPIPTW, as one paper at ETS in
November 2004 suggested) - these, too, would be aorist participles. I.e., if "to fall away" (or
"to sin") means to recrucify Christ to one's own detriment and to put Him to open shame, I
would think the author might have written these also as aorist participles. That, though,
might suggest that there is no possibility of their restoration.
That they are present participles possibly suggests that even if they did fall away or sin,
there is an ongoing activity they're engaging in that recrucifies Christ and shames Him
(maybe the same activity, or the state they're in for having fallen away/sinned; these present
participles could still be equated with PARAPESONTAS, and not simply be seen as a
consequence), and that activity/state hinders or prevents their restoration. Also, these being
present participles seems to maybe allow, as some do, a temporal interpretation of them -
i.e., they cannot be restored WHILE they are recrucifying and shaming Christ (but if they
stop doing it, they can be restored).
I guess the main choices are between temporal and causal. I still favor causal, which does
seem to equate the actions of the present participles with the act/fact of PARAPESONTAS.
Eric S. Weiss
---------------------------------
Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check.
Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta.
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list