Aorist Indicative: The Disctinction Between The Aorist And The Imperfect

Posted on November 4, 2011 by New Testament Greek
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE AORIST AND THE IMPERFECT

(1) The difference between an Historical Aorist and an Imperfect of action in progress or repeated being one not of the nature of the fact but of the speaker’s conception of the fact, it is evident that the same fact may be expressed by either tense or by both. This is illustrated in Mark 12:41 and 44, where, with strict appropriateness in both cases, Mark writes in v. 41, πολλοὶ πλούσιοι ἔβαλλον πολλά, and in v. 44 records Jesus as stating the same fact in the words πάντες . . . ἔβαλον. The former describes the scene in progress, the latter merely states the fact.… Learn Koine Greek

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Aorist Indicative: English Equivalents Of The Greek Aorist Indicative

Posted on November 3, 2011 by New Testament Greek
ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF THE GREEK AORIST INDICATIVE

(1) It should be observed that the Aorist for the Perfect and the Aorist for the Pluperfect are not variations from the normal use of the Greek Aorist. Viewed strictly from the point of view of Greek Grammar, these Aorists are simply Historical, Inceptive, or Resultative Aorists. The necessity for mentioning them arises merely from the difference between the English and the Greek idiom.

The Greek Aorist corresponds to the English simple Past (or Imperfect or Preterite, loved, heard, etc.) more nearly than to any other English tense. But it is not the precise equivalent of the English Past; nor is the Greek Perfect the precise equivalent of the English Perfect; nor the Greek Pluperfect of the English Pluperfect.… Learn Koine Greek

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Aorist Indicative: The Aorist For The (English) Pluperfect

Posted on November 2, 2011 by New Testament Greek
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

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Aorist Indicative: The Aorist For The (English) Perfect

Posted on November 1, 2011 by New Testament Greek
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

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Aorist Indicative: The Dramatic Aorist

Posted on October 31, 2011 by New Testament Greek

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

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Aorist Indicative: The Epistolary Aorist

Posted on October 30, 2011 by New Testament Greek

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

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Aorist Indicative: The Gnomic Aorist

Posted on October 28, 2011 by New Testament Greek

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

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Aorist Indicative: The Resultative Aorist

Posted on October 26, 2011 by New Testament Greek

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

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Aorist Indicative: The Inceptive Aorist

Posted on October 24, 2011 by New Testament Greek

(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

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Aorist Indicative: The Historical Aorist

Posted on October 22, 2011 by New Testament Greek

(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

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