[B-Greek] 1 John 1.9 Ed Glasscock in latest BibSac
Brian Abasciano
bvabasciano at gmail.com
Thu May 7 15:24:03 EDT 2009
I wonder if this whole discussion about the present in 1 John 1:9 has gotten
off track, and this because of the assumoption that if the present there
embraces the future, that it therefore simply refers to the future. I think
it is pretty well recognized that the present tense *can* be used of an
ongoing process (that doesn't mean it always refers to ongoing process).
Well, an ongoing process in the present typically embraces the future to
some extent, but that does not make the present tense in such an instance
refer specifically to the future. I would say it embraces the future as a
consequence of the nature of the present action (it is an ongoing process).
Of course, there is such a thing as the futuristic present too (as some have
pointed out). But I wonder if this discussion wrongly got onto the idea of
the futuristic present (which is a fine idea to talk about in itself) in 1
John 1:9 when the idea of the present in that verse referring to an ongoing
activity would not mean the present refers directly to the future, but
emphasizes the continuing nature of the action in the present, which then
bleeds over into the future as a result of the ongoing-ness of the action.
But it seems incorrect to then characterize such an instance of the present
as referring to the future. There are many more issues involved of course,
but I figured it worth mentioning this aspect of the discussion.
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