[B-Greek] Aspect of KATALLASSWN in 2Cor 5,19
Michael Aubrey
mga318 at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 27 13:17:20 EDT 2009
>> My problem is, how to understand KATALLASSWN in 2Cor 5,19 as
>> imperfective ?
>> Is it really a Pauline concept that reconciliaton is a continuous
>> process ?
> I said in the first reply that HN KATALLASSWN is a periphrastic
> construction, equivalent to an imperfect indicative, KATHLLASSEN. The
> implication of the these forms is certainly that the reconciling
> activity was a process; nothing is said about any completion of the
> process, only that it was taking place EN CRISTWi.
> Carl W. Conrad
Since Carl has explained well what is going on with Aspect in this verse, let me try to explain more broadly.
Imperfectivity never necessitates in of itself that a given action, event or state expressed by a verb continues and has not yet ended. It simply means that the imperfective verb itself has no referenced & specific beginning or end point. There may very well be an endpoint expressed elsewhere in the context, but that has nothing to do with the verb - in this case, the participle.
Actually, now that I think about it, my first sentence referencing Carl above is a great parallel example to 2 Cor 5:19.
In "what is going on in this verse," the verb "is going" is an English imperfective. And thus, there is no references to the beginning or ending. But like EN CRISTWi, "in this verse" provides the frame in which this progressive verb happens, limiting the action - and again like Carl said, the past tense ΗΝ is also a limiter here. The past assumes that there was an endpoint at some point, even if it isn't referenced. Here's an English example of the same thing. If I were telling a story to someone about something that happened yesterday, I might begin it something like this:
'So yesterday, I was walking to the store to pick up some fresh fruit. All of the sudden, a truck came out of nowhere and I barely got out of the way!"
Here, "was walking" is the English imperfective aspect and it's clear that at that moment in the story, my walking was definitely in progress, but it's also clear from the context beyond that single verb that the walking did actually stop at some point later on.
Likewise, "reconciling" is definitely situated in the past because of HN and is definitely limited to a narrower past event by EN CRISTWi, which I understand as referring to the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ. So it's not that the Pauline concept of reconciliation is a continuous process, but that Paul described it as a continuous process in the past during Christ's incarnation.
Does that happen clear up for you what imperfective aspect does? It's a category that has been made extremely complex in the grammar books, but it's a lot simpler than the book might suggest - or at least it should be. I'm a little worried that the length of this post is actually going to make things more confusing. Please, ask questions if you need something more.
Mike Aubrey
http://evepheso.wordpress.com
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