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

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu Nov 29 06:02:05 EST 2007


On Nov 28, 2007, at 11:41 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:

>
> On Nov 28, 2007, at 2:30 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
>
>> This could be a reflection of Isa 42:1 Theod. which renders a perfect
>> in the Masoretic Text...
>
> I am not suggesting any theory concerning the Masoretic Text and the
> vorlage of Theodotion's Isaiah. I am not even suggesting that Matt
> 3:17 is dependent on any OT text. According to H.B.Swete (Com. Mark
> 1:11) Theod. uses HUDOKHSAN to render Isa. 42:1. See also Matt 12:18
>
> Matt. 12:18
> ἰδοὺ ὁ παῖς μου ὃν ᾑρέτισα,
> ὁ ἀγαπητός μου
> εἰς ὃν εὐδόκησεν ἡ ψυχή μου·
>
> MATT. 12:18
> IDOU hO PAIS MOU hON hHiRETISA,
> hO AGAPHTOS MOU
> EIS hON EUDOKHSEN hH YUCH MOU:
>
> I am a little leery of the way "gnomic" aorist is defined in some of
> the grammars as "something that happens all the time" or "beyond
> time, timeless". These formulations seem to create unnecessary
> distinctions that create confusion when they are applied
> inconsistently in exegesis. It might be better to just admit that
> verb aspect scholars are at least half right about the aorist
> indicative, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with time.

I'm inclined to agree with this comment: I don't think it's "gnomic."  
I don't really think that God's designation of Jesus as His elect  
falls into the same category as recurrent sunrises and electrolytic  
processes and the like. I think rather that the aorist here is  
equivalent to usage of the perfect. The verb EUDOKEW, moreover,  
doesn't so much express a feeling of one person toward another but a  
deliberate decision regarding that person.

I might add, however, that when we "admit that verb-aspect scholars  
are at least half right about the aorist," it seems we're also  
suggesting that they may not be any MORE than half right. To me that  
seems tantamount to saying that an awful lot of what's been said and  
written about Greek verbal aspect is theoretical guesswork.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





More information about the B-Greek mailing list