[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
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________Get easy, one-click access to your favorites.
> Make Yahoo! your homepage.
> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list