[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


 
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