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Greek Lessons
- “What to Us and to You?”: Demonic Recognition and Eschatological Grammar in Matthew 8:29
- Whispers of Identity: From Prophets to Pronouns in Mark 8:28
- The Field of Blood: Passive Voice and Temporal Clauses in Matthew 27:8
- Declensions in the Storm: Case Usage in Matthew 8:26
- Testimony on the Road: Aorist Participles and Mission Grammar in Acts 8:25
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Category Archives: Grammar
Aorist Indicative: The Aorist For The (English) Pluperfect
THE AORIST FOR THE (ENGLISH) PLUPERFECT
(1) The Aorist Indicative is frequently used in narrative passages of a past event which precedes another past event mentioned or implied in the context. In English it is common in such a case to indicate the real order of the events by the use of a Pluperfect for the earlier event. Cf. ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREEK AORIST INDICATIVE (1),(2).
John 19:30; ὅτε οὖν ἔλαβεν τὸ ὄξος ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· τετελέσται, when therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished.
Matthew 14:3; Ὁ γὰρ Ἡρῴδης κρατήσας τὸν Ἰωάννην ἔδησεν αὐτὸν, for Herod having laid hold on John had bound him.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Aorist For The (English) Perfect
THE AORIST FOR THE (ENGLISH) PERFECT
(1) The Aorist is frequently used in Greek where the English idiom requires a Perfect.
Luke 19:9; Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο, to-day is salvation come to this house.
Matt. 5:21; Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time.
Phil. 4:11; ἐγὼ γὰρ ἔμαθον ἐν οἷς εἰμι αὐτάρκης εἶναι, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therein to be content. See also under ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREEK AORIST INDICATIVE.
(2) The Aorist Indicative of a few verbs is used in the New Testament to denote a present state, the result of a past act, hence with the proper force of a Greek Perfect.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Dramatic Aorist
The Aorist Indicative is sometimes used of a state of mind just reached, or of an act expressive of it. The effect is to give to the statement greater vividness than is given by the more usual Present.
Luke 16:4.; ἔγνων τί ποιήσω, I know [lit. I knew, or I perceived] what I shall do.
REMARK. This usage is in classical Greek mainly poetical and is found chiefly in dialogue. It is sometimes called “Aoristus tragicus.” Brugmann thus describes it: “Nicht selten wurde der Aorist von dem gebraucht, was soeben eingetreten ist, besonders von einer Stimmung, die soeben uber einen gekommen ist, oder von einem Urteil, das man sich soeben gebildet hat.”… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Epistolary Aorist
The writer of a letter sometimes puts himself in the place of his reader and describes as past that which is to himself present, but which will be past to his reader.
Eph. 6:22; ὃν ἔπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, whom I send to you for this very purpose. See also Acts 23:30; 1 Cor. 5:11; Phil. 2:28; Col. 4:8; Philem. 11.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Gnomic Aorist
The Aorist is used in proverbs and comparisons where the English commonly uses a General Present.
1 Pet. 1:24; ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν, the grass withereth and the flower falleth. See also Luke 7:35; John 15:6; Jas. 1:11, 24.
REMARK. Winer’s contention (WT. p. 277; WM. p. 346) that the Gnomic Aorist does not occur in the New Testament does not seem defensible. The passages cited above are entirely similar to the classical examples of this ancient and well-established idiom.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Resultative Aorist
The Aorist of a verb whose Present implies effort or intention, commonly denotes the success of the effort.
Acts 27:43; ὁ δὲ ἑκατοντάρχης βουλόμενος διασῶσαι τὸν Παῦλον ἐκώλυσεν αὐτοὺς τοῦ βουλήματος, but the centurion . . . prevented them from their purpose. See also Matt. 27:20; Acts 7:36.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Inceptive Aorist
(1) The Aorist of a verb whose Present denotes a state or condition, commonly denotes the beginning of that state.
2 Cor. 8:9; δι’ ὑμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν πλούσιος ὤν, though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor. See also Luke 15:32; John 4:52; Acts 7:60; Rom. 14:9.
REMARK. The Aorist of such verbs is not, however, necessarily inceptive. The same form may be in one sentence inceptive and in another historical. Cf. Luke 9:36 with Acts 15:12, the verb , being in the former historical, in the latter probably inceptive.… Learn Koine Greek
Aorist Indicative: The Historical Aorist
(1) The Aorist Indicative is most frequently used to express a past event viewed in its entirety, simply as an event or a single fact. It has no reference to the progress of the event, or to any existing result of it.
John 1:11; εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον, he came unto his own and they that were his own received him not.
(2) Since any past event without reference to its duration or complexity may be conceived of as a single fact, the Historical Aorist may be used to describe
(a) A momentary action.
Acts 5:5; ἐξέψυξεν, he gave up the ghost.… Learn Koine Greek
The Aorist Indicative
(1) The constant characteristic of the Aorist tense in all of its moods, including the participle, is that it represents the action denoted by it indefinitely; i.e. simply as an event, neither on the one hand picturing it in progress, nor on the other affirming the existence of its result. The name indefinite as thus understood is therefore applicable to the tense in all of its uses.
As respects the point of view from which the action is looked at, however, we may distinguish three functions of the tense common to all of its moods.
First, it may be used to describe an action or event in its entirety.… Learn Koine Greek
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Imperfect Indicative: Periphrastic Form Of Imperfect
PERIPHRASTIC FORM OF THE IMPERFECT
Periphrastic Imperfects, formed by adding a Present Participle to the Imperfect of the verb eivmi,, are frequent in the New Testament, especially in the historical books. The large majority of these forms denote continued action.
Mark 10:32; καὶ ἦν προάγων αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, and Jesus was going before them. So also Luke 1:10, 22; John 13:23; and probably Mark 2:18. In a few instances repeated action is referred to, as Luke 5:16; 19:47; Gal. 1:23. Cf. The Predicative Adjective Participle (3).… Learn Koine Greek
