"The present tense is used to express timeless being. Jesus says, 'Before Abraham came to be [genesthai, aorist infinitive], I am' (egō eimi, present tense, and double nominative for emphasis). The aorist indicates a beginning for the existence of Abraham, but the present tense emphasizes the eternal preexistence of Jesus."
Blackwelder, Boyce W. Light from the Greek New Testament (Kindle Locations 1402-1407). Reformation Publishers Prestonsburg, KY. Kindle Edition.
My Reply: It's difficult to see how the aorist indicates a beginning all by itself or even if it's contrasted with the present tense verb. Aorist verbs are default words, and the aorist represents action as a whole. It is not the aorist alone that shows Abraham had a beginning, but also the occurrence of prin. Furthermore, Jason Beduhn has rightly challenged the view expressed here regarding the present tense: since when did the Greek ever indicate eternal preexistence by using present tense verbs? That is more of a theological assertion than a grammatical datum.
Friday, September 11, 2020
John 8:58 Assertions (Boyce W. Blackwelder)
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3 comments:
Any time an argument for a specific reading with theological consequences rests entirely on a gramatical syntaxical case I always get suspicious. No lanugage (including Greek) is that precise, nor could it be that precise and still function as a language.
Just to give an example Mark often mixes present tense verbs with imperfect or aorist verbs, in a narrative form we all understand what's happening, it's a fast pace narrative (probably oral in origin), and speaking out loud one can easily understand how this happens. So having a hard and fast rule like that and arguing simply based on that rule makes no sense, there are so many other factors at play.
I agree. There are other cases where scholars try to read too much into cases or syntax. But I agree that we have to be careful about how we understand syntax or morphology. Compare Matthew 24:45 with Luke 12:42ff. Notice how the presumably same event is described with two different tenses.
interesting, I haven't noticed that before.
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