From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Mon Oct 11 1999 - 09:59:45 EDT
To: Paul Dixon,
SCM: << FWIW ... the passages I've always wondered about are the divorce
texts in the Synoptic gospels. E.g. the NRSV translates Mt 19:9 as: "And I
say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries
another commits adultery."
The English translation "commits adultery" might give some the impression
that the sin is committed only during the marriage ceremony. I wonder if
the present tense might be better translated as: "living in adultery"? One
might translate Mt 19:9 as:
"And I say to you, whoever divorces his woman, except for infidelity [or:
prostitution [?]), and marries another lives in adultery." I reckon that
the idea is too unpopular to be adopted by any major translation. And
although I would not personally approve of such an ethic, it seems to me
that is what the text is saying. >>
PD: << The problem is that the present tense may denote a progressive
nuance, that is, "is committing adultery (in the act of remarriage)". This,
of course, addresses the issue made by some over whether remarriage
constitutes an on-going act of adultery. This cannot be proved by the use
of the present tense. The nuance may be
merely progressive. >>
I find it interesting that at Matthew 19:9 we have three verbs, two are
aorist and one is present tense.
"And I say to you, whoever divorces [aorist] his woman, except for
infidelity [or: prostitution [?]), and marries [aorist] another lives in
adultery [present]."
If the Matthean Jesus wanted to suggest that the act of adultery was a
punctiliar act as opposed to a linear act, why didn't he keep to the aorist
tense, why the switch to the present tense? The statement seems very clear
to me. The Greek verb translated as "divorces" is in the aorist tense
because it is viewed as a punctiliar act. The Greek verb translated as
"marries" is in the aorist tense because it is viewed as a punctiliar act.
But the verb translated as "lives in adultery" (or "commits adultery") is
in the present tense because it is viewed as a linear act. Why else the
switch to the present tense?
-Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
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