More on John 1:12, 13 and the present tense in John's gospel
The way that John expressed it in 1:12, as I discussed it in the previous post, makes it clear that we become children of God based on a point-in-time kind of faith. We may struggle with our faith later, but we remain a child of God.
So think about it, according to John 1:12 the giving of this spiritual life is aorist and takes place the moment the faith occurs. The giving is conditioned upon the believing. If believe meant continuous faith, then the giving could not take place until death. Eternal life could not be a present possession in this life since you would have to wait until death to get it. But such is not the case as Jesus and John make clear in 5:24 and 6:47 - it is a present possession. ("He who hears My words and believes in Him who sent Me
has eternal life. He shall not come into judgment, but has passed out of (crossed over out of") death into life.")
Now if Jesus guaranteed that we would not come into judgment but have passed from death into life, how can that be conditioned on anything that occurs after our faith in Christ at a point-in-time?
But there's more in this verse to indicate point-in-time action. The word typically translated "become" in this verse is an aorist infinitive (GENESTHAI) and so it too is punctiliar and cannot mean that at some later time those who received Him would become God's children if they continue to believe. It's past tense, point-in-time action. And this aorist infinitive expresses action that is simultaneous with that of the two preceding finite aorists ELABON ("received") and EDOKEN ("gave"). IOW, the moment of someone accepting/receiving Christ, that, too, is the moment of becoming a child of God. The fact that receiving Christ means receiving him by faith is clear from vs. 7 where we read, "...so that all might believe through Him."
Now aorist infinitives strongly point to punctiliar (point-in-time) action taking place. This point-in-time nature of "become" demands that "received," "gave," and "believe" also be understood as point-in-time.
So then not only is the immediate context of "believe" in verse 12 surrounded with aorist verbs indicating point-in-time action, but the present tense participle "believe" is equated with the aorist tense verb "receive." They are synonymous expressions.
But we're not done here. What about the verb translated "believe" in v. 7? What tense is it? Aorist. And not just indicative aorist, it is an aorist subjunctive which ALWAYS specifies punctiliar ("point-in-time") action. In the indicative mood, the aorist tense is fairly "simple," not necessarily saying a whole lot about the action except that something happened - in a punctiliar fashion. But in other than indicative the focus is no longer on the time of the action, but on the kind of action in Greek - so it's point-in-time kind of action is being emphasized. So then, one act of faith, punctiliar ("point-in-time") action, was required for faith to be saving. Continuous faith is not required. The action spoken of here is clearly point-in-time kind of action.
Now, one more grammatical point about the verb "believes" as used in John's gospel. The use of the present tense does not imply that the action involved cannot stop. On the contrary, the present participle is used here - with an article ("the"). The present participle is used of actions that have stopped! People sometimes take the Greek present tense and note that it can be continual action. But they ignore the fact that this is a present articular participle used throughout John (PAS hO PISTEUON EIS -
"all the ones who believe in/upon") - for just that reason. For example - John 9:8 (Usually translated as,
"Is this the man who sat and begged?") - has two present participles there. In the final analysis the Greek construction translated by
"he who believes" or
"the one who believes" is merely descriptive. It identifies a person as "a believer," but it does not specify anything at all about the continuity of the action. It might best be described something like
"the believing one" or
"the one who believed."
Let me give a few specific instances of just such present tense participles:
The use of the present tense does not imply that the action involved cannot stop. On the contrary, the present participle is used of actions that have stopped!"
Matthew 2:20 "those who sought [= article + present participle]...are dead"
Mark 5:16 "those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed" (= article + present participle)
Mark 6:14 "John the Baptist (= article + present participle) is risen from the dead"
John 9:8 "Is not this he who sat and begged?" (= article + two present participles)
Galatians 1:23 "He who formerly persecuted us" (= article + present participle).
Oh,
John 9:8 says,
"Is this the man who sat and begged?" or
"Is this the man who sat begging?" Now clearly the neighbors were asking if the man who now could see was the same man who
"used to" sit and beg. He is obviously no longer
"sitting and begging." Yet people take the present tense that John uses in his gospel to say that it means that we must continue to believe. Was that blind man still sitting and begging? That is the same as asking if a person who has trusted in Christ is still not a child of God, or if he is now a child of God. If my logic is at fault here, then please explain how.
By the way... that verb in
1 Peter 1:5 for
"are guarded"... it is also a present participle (passive). The word for faith there is a noun, so we can't apply any grammatical verbal analysis there.
Now think about it.
John 3:16 is the most popular verse to use in sharing the gospel. But look at it in context. (3:14-17) The illustration is used of the OT story where people were being bitten and dying because of their sin. God had Moses erect a tall pole with a brass snake on it. Then when someone was bitten he need only go to that pole and look upon thesnake and he was "saved."
Did that snake-bitten person in the OT need to continually look up at that serpent IOT be saved from death? No - clearly he need only look once. Similarly, when we believe in Jesus Christ at a point in time we gain eternal life. The illustration makes it clear how the present tense is to be understood there. We must be careful that we do not say that eternal faith gives us salvation; but that faith gives us eternal salvation.
Consider the thesis statement of
John in 20:30, 31 ->
John 20:31 tells us why this whole Gospel was written. It says,
"These have been written that you may believe (aorist tense: past tense - punctiliar - point-in-time believe) that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."
OK, permit me to point out a few more cases in the NT where a point in time faith is clearly what saves - is what is required for eternal life:
Mark 16:16 "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
"believes" = PAS hO PISTEUSAS -
"all the ones who believe" - a nominative sing., masc. aorist active participle. "but whoever does not believe" = hO DE APISTESAS - a nominative sing., masc. aorist active participle (Note: Remember, the aorist tense indicates a point-in-time moment of faith in order to be saved. It never describes continual kind of action.)
John 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
"Whoever believes" = PAS hO PISTEUON, and
"But whoever does not believe" = PAS hO DE ME PISTEUON are both - nominative sing. masc. present active participles.
But,
"because he has not believed" = hOTI ME PEPISTEUKEN -
perfect tense, active, indicative, 3rd, sing. participle. Now the perfect tense signifies a completed action moment of faith (point-in-time) that has ocurred in the past with an existing state of ongoing results in the present. And this is the requirement to avoid being condemned. Thus the
present participle,
"whoever believes" is paralleled with the
perfect tense "because he has not believed," indicating that only a moment of faith is what's required IOT gain eternal life.
I think I need to summarize what I've said about the present tense in another post...
Thx for hanging in there.
FA
NE has said ANYTHING about a person believing one second and then 2 seconds later chaning their mind. Seriously can't you people just have an "honest" discussion? Is that really an impossibility?
