Faith alone
New Member
Is the requirement for eternal life linear (continuous) or punctiliar (point-in-time) faith? My OP will need to be broken into 3 parts - sorry about the length. I think my first post will just introduce the question at hand and give an overview of the arguments I intend to be making. Thx for your patience.
A claim has been made that the present tense in koine Greek is always an expression of continual action in the present. This is a common assertion, but it is just not accurate. One reason this is important is that this is then used as an argument by some to say that if a Christian ever stops believing that he no longer has eternal life since eternal life is given in John's gospel, it is argued, based on "continuous action," which is then taken to mean unending action, which is an abuse of aspect or the kind of action for the present tense. It stems from a misunderstanding of the present tense in the indicative mood.
Sorry, but the following will get somewhat technical. The intent is not to prevent those without a background in Greek from participating. But there is simply no way to address this issue, since it is based on what is referred to as aspect, or "kind of action." In any but the indicative mood (most common) the kind of action is what matters. Only in the indicative mood does the time of the action really become significant.
Greek gramamrs tell us that the present tense is linear type of action. In contrast, the aorist tense is punctiliar or point-in-time kind of action - occuring in general in a moment, not repeating or describing an ongoing kind of action.
The indicative mood present tense CAN indicate linear action in Greek. But even common sense tells us that it does not always, or even usually, do so. There is only one present tense in Greek, compared to several past tenses. If this claim were true, how would it be possible to indicate a point-in-time type of action in the present? It would not be possible. While on occasion the aorist past tense is used in such a way that it expresses simple action, and hence can be understood as occuring in the present, it is not a present tense, but past tense. Also, similarly the future tense behaves similar to the present tense in terms of being in general linear in other than the indicative mood, so how could we indicate point-in-time kind of action that occurs in the future, such as the future coming of Christ? It would not be possible to do so.
I heard this claim about four years ago and did some research on it. This claim is typically made as a result of reading basic, first-year Greek grammars. In trying to simplify things there, the wrong impression is given, and some have run with this imformation - drawing somewhat inaccurate conclusions as a result. But hopefully the common sense stuff I would like to talk about now will be enough to convince some of you that the "present tense always means continuous action" claim could not be true.
Following is an overview about what my arguments are going to be. Then those who want to wade through this to get to particular technical details can do so.
I will show that the context of John 3:16 alone indicates a point-in-time event. I refer to some Greek grammars IOT show that the present tense is not always a "continuous" sort of tense, but performs double-duty. True, it is referred to, in general, as "linear" in basic grammars. However, such a statement is true, in general, only in other than the indicative mood, which is the most common mood in Greek. In the indicative mood the present tense can indicate either linear or punctiliar (point-in-time) in aspect (kind of action).
But let me give you a primer for the comments to follow:
Then I will look at the present tense form for "believe" used in John's gospel, which is not in general a simple present tense, but articular participial present tense. And articular participles are often used as substantives, meaning that they essentially behave like nouns. That makes a significant difference. And that is the present tense form for PISTEUW in nearly every instance in John's gospel.
Then I will deal with what's referred to as the tensual fallacy. I give an example of the overplay of tense that is sometimes done with the use from John 6 of several references to Christ having come down from heaven. The present tense, aorist tense and perfect tense are all used to refer to the same event in 7 different verses. That certainly should alert us to be careful about making statements that are too dogmatic regarding tense.
I will look also at the tenses in John 1:12 in detail.
Then I will look at John 20:30, 31 where John expresses why he wrote this gospel. The tenses used there will make it clear that the present tense could not possibly have been intended to be viewed in a linear manner by John.
I appreciate your patience.
Thx,
FA
A claim has been made that the present tense in koine Greek is always an expression of continual action in the present. This is a common assertion, but it is just not accurate. One reason this is important is that this is then used as an argument by some to say that if a Christian ever stops believing that he no longer has eternal life since eternal life is given in John's gospel, it is argued, based on "continuous action," which is then taken to mean unending action, which is an abuse of aspect or the kind of action for the present tense. It stems from a misunderstanding of the present tense in the indicative mood.
Sorry, but the following will get somewhat technical. The intent is not to prevent those without a background in Greek from participating. But there is simply no way to address this issue, since it is based on what is referred to as aspect, or "kind of action." In any but the indicative mood (most common) the kind of action is what matters. Only in the indicative mood does the time of the action really become significant.
Greek gramamrs tell us that the present tense is linear type of action. In contrast, the aorist tense is punctiliar or point-in-time kind of action - occuring in general in a moment, not repeating or describing an ongoing kind of action.
The indicative mood present tense CAN indicate linear action in Greek. But even common sense tells us that it does not always, or even usually, do so. There is only one present tense in Greek, compared to several past tenses. If this claim were true, how would it be possible to indicate a point-in-time type of action in the present? It would not be possible. While on occasion the aorist past tense is used in such a way that it expresses simple action, and hence can be understood as occuring in the present, it is not a present tense, but past tense. Also, similarly the future tense behaves similar to the present tense in terms of being in general linear in other than the indicative mood, so how could we indicate point-in-time kind of action that occurs in the future, such as the future coming of Christ? It would not be possible to do so.
I heard this claim about four years ago and did some research on it. This claim is typically made as a result of reading basic, first-year Greek grammars. In trying to simplify things there, the wrong impression is given, and some have run with this imformation - drawing somewhat inaccurate conclusions as a result. But hopefully the common sense stuff I would like to talk about now will be enough to convince some of you that the "present tense always means continuous action" claim could not be true.
Following is an overview about what my arguments are going to be. Then those who want to wade through this to get to particular technical details can do so.
I will show that the context of John 3:16 alone indicates a point-in-time event. I refer to some Greek grammars IOT show that the present tense is not always a "continuous" sort of tense, but performs double-duty. True, it is referred to, in general, as "linear" in basic grammars. However, such a statement is true, in general, only in other than the indicative mood, which is the most common mood in Greek. In the indicative mood the present tense can indicate either linear or punctiliar (point-in-time) in aspect (kind of action).
But let me give you a primer for the comments to follow:
I will then look at John 3:16 more closely, in particular at some aorist phrases there and draw some conclusions. Then I will list a few verses in which aorist action is indicated for belief in Christ. Now the aorist tense is used for point-in-time kind of action.Present tense - linear or punctiliar (point-in-time/one-time) kind of action in indicative mood and linear in all other moods.
Aorist tense - a past tense punctiliar ("point-in-time") kind of action. Basically a simple expession that something happened in indicative, and always a punctiliar type of action in other moods.
Then I will look at the present tense form for "believe" used in John's gospel, which is not in general a simple present tense, but articular participial present tense. And articular participles are often used as substantives, meaning that they essentially behave like nouns. That makes a significant difference. And that is the present tense form for PISTEUW in nearly every instance in John's gospel.
Then I will deal with what's referred to as the tensual fallacy. I give an example of the overplay of tense that is sometimes done with the use from John 6 of several references to Christ having come down from heaven. The present tense, aorist tense and perfect tense are all used to refer to the same event in 7 different verses. That certainly should alert us to be careful about making statements that are too dogmatic regarding tense.
I will look also at the tenses in John 1:12 in detail.
Then I will look at John 20:30, 31 where John expresses why he wrote this gospel. The tenses used there will make it clear that the present tense could not possibly have been intended to be viewed in a linear manner by John.
I appreciate your patience.
Thx,
FA