[B-Greek] Matt 3:17 - import of 1 per sing aorist EUDOKHSA

frjsilver at optonline.net frjsilver at optonline.net
Wed Nov 28 19:49:50 EST 2007


Although I remember questioning the existence of a gnomic aorist years ago, I mostly agree with George Somsel, for what it's worth.  This is pretty much how it seems to me, although I'd go a step farther and call it durative or habitual rather than specifically temporal.  It happens very often in the psalms, where this construction is usually mistranslated as a present perfect form in English.

Father James Silver

----- Original Message -----
From: George F Somsel 
Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:50 pm
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Matt 3:17 - import of 1 per sing aorist EUDOKHSA
To: B-Greek B-Greek 
Cc: "Delwyn X. Campbell" 

> Robertson considers it a gnomic aorist, an aorist which 
> expresses a general truth. I tend to agree. I've made a break 
> in the text to set off the citation of this passage, but it 
> should all be one paragraph.
> 
> (β) The Gnomic Aorist. Jannaris calls this also “empiric 
> aorist,” while Gildersleeve uses “empirical” for the aorist 
> with a negative or temporal adverb, a rather needless 
> distinction. The real “gnomic” aorist is a universal or timeless 
> aorist and probably represents the original timelessness of the 
> aorist indicative. This aorist is common in Homer in 
> comparisons and general sayings. The difference between the 
> gnomic aorist and the present is that the present may be 
> durative. But general truths may be expressed by the aoristic 
> present. Gildersleeve (Syntax, p. 109) compares this use of the 
> aorist to the generic article. Winer denies that this idiom 
> occurs in the N. T., but on insufficient grounds. Abbott 
> rather needlessly appeals to the “Hebrew influence on Johannine 
> tense-construction” to explain ἐβλήθη καὶ ἐξηράνθη. (Jo. 15:6) 
> after ἐὰν μή τις μένῃ ἐν
> ἐμοί . It is a general construction here and is followed by 
> three presents (aoristic). This is a mixed condition certainly, 
> the protasis being future [Page 837] (third class, undetermined 
> with some likelihood of determination). But ἐδοξάσθη (Jo. 15:8) 
> is possibly also gnomic. Cf. πάντες ἥμαρτον καὶ ὑστεροῦνται (Ro. 
> 3:23). But in Jo. 15:6, 8, we may have merely the “timeless” 
> aorist, like ὅταν θέλῃς, ἐξῆλθες, in Epictetus, IV, 10, 27. 
> Radermacher (N. T. Gr., p. 124) so thinks and adds, what I do 
> not admit: “The genuine gnomic aorist appears to be foreign to 
> the Hellenistic vernacular.” It survives in modern Greek, 
> according to Jannaris, Hist. Gk. Gr., p. 436. Moulton (Prol., 
> pp. 135, 139) admits it in N. T., but (p. 134) considers Jo. 
> 15:6 the “timeless” aorist, like ἀπωλόμην εἴ με λείψεις in Eur., 
> Alc., 386. There are other examples, like ἔκρυψεν
> (Mt. 13:44) which is followed by presents ὑπάγει, πωλεῖ, 
> ἠγόρασεν (13:46), συνέλεξαν—ἔβαλον (13:48), ὡμοιώθη (18:23), 
> ἐκάθισαν (23:2), εὐδόκησα (Lu. 3:22), ἐδικαιώθη (7:35), ἐδίδαξεν 
> (Jo. 8:28), ἀνέτειλεν and the other aorists in Jas. 1:11, 
> ἐκάλεσε—ἐδόξασε (Ro. 8:30), ἐξηράνθη—ἐξέπεσεν (1 Pet. 1:24; LXX, 
> Is. 40:7). It is true that the timeless Hebrew perfect is much 
> like this gnomic aorist, but it is a common enough Greek idiom 
> also. Cf. further Lu. 1:51–53. It is not certain that εὐδόκησα 
> 
> (Mt. 3:17; 
> 
> 17:5; Mk. 1:11; Lu. 3:22) belongs here. It may be merely an 
> example of the timeless aorist used in the present, but not 
> gnomic. See under (ε). Burton (N. T. Moods and Tenses, p. 29) 
> finds it difficult and thinks it originally “inceptive” 
> (ingressive). 
> 
> Robertson, A. (1919; 2006). A Grammar of the Greek New Testament 
> in the Light of Historical Research (836). Logos.
> 
> 
> george
> gfsomsel
> 
> Therefore, O faithful Christian, search for truth, hear truth, 
> learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
> defend the truth till death.
> 
> - Jan Hus
> _________
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Carl W.Conrad 
> To: B-Greek B-Greek 
> Cc: Delwyn X. Campbell 
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 2:10:34 PM
> Subject: [B-Greek] Matt 3:17 - import of 1 per sing aorist EUDOKHSA
> 
> CWC note: This message got waylaid on its course to the list; 
> I've 
> reformatted the Greek text to conform to BG usage:
> ===========
> From: "Delwyn X. Campbell" 
> Date: November 28, 2007 10:50:59 AM EST
> 
> Greetings:
> 
> I do not post often, being mostly content to glean from others. 
> This 
> morning I was reading Chapters 3 and 4 of Matthew, and I am 
> curious 
> about the construction of the Father’s statement at the end of 
> Matt 
> 3:17. Please explain the significance, if any, (language, not 
> theological) to the use of the aorist rather than either the 
> perfect 
> or present tense in this statement:
> 
> καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν 
> λέγουσα· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ 
> ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα.
> KAI IDOU FWNH EK TWN OURANWN LEGOUSA: hOUTOS ESTIN hO hUIOS MOU 
> hO 
> AGAPHTOS, EN hWi EUDOKHSA.
> 
> Delwyn X. Campbell
> dxcj4life at hotmail.com
> 
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