I probably have overstated the case in my posting. I actually do not
entirely dismiss "time" from the koine verb. However, I feel that there
is quite a lot of semitic influence in koine Greek generally. In
recent postings there has also been some discussion of Youngs Intermediate
grammar and his description of the tenses. As I read his grammar
I found that this is essentially what Young was suggesting in his
description of koine Greek. He sees time as being entirely a contextual
matter and not found in the verb forms at all. He furthermore suggests
that the difference between uses of the present and imperfect forinstance
are not at all a matter of time considerations but rather a matter
of discourse types.
Here is rather what I probably should say. I look for "time" first
from the context and secondly from the verb form. I normally expect
the augmented tenses to be past time... but even there I pay close
attention to the context first.
Rich Lindeman
--
=====================================================================
ISOC - International Society of Online Christians
"Meeting the future boldly with Christ"
======================================================================
RichardLindeman@xc.org 2155 Northdale Blvd NW - Coon Rapids, MN 55433