From: Rolf Furuli (furuli@online.no)
Date: Mon Dec 18 2000 - 11:05:48 EST
Alan B. Thomas wrote,
>
>However, I do not think that the Aorist is an attempt
>to view the reign as a "single or complete" reign.
>That is, the Greek writer, immediately after stating
>that this king reigned (Aorist) 10 years, he might
>just as naturally identify a particular moment and
>discuss some detail during this 10 year reign. He
>might even discuss two specific details years apart,
>but all under the Aorist umbrella.
>
>The attempt to make the Aorist a "punctiliar" aspect I
>think is incorrect. If an event is point-like, then
>and only then do we have a punctiliar use, but even
>then I would say that is not inherently part of the
>Aorist. The punctiliar aspect would require an
>additional grammatical element to bring this aspect
>into the aoristic verbal phrase.
Dear Alan,
I agree with you that neither punctiliarity nor completeness is an
uncancellable characteristic of the aorist. When discussing the subject it
is important to differentiate between states (which continue without an
input of energy) and actions (which need energy to continue). Two examples
of states which neither were completed, nor complete, nor punctiliar, but
were expressed by the aorist are:
ROMANS 5:14 ALLA EBASILEUSEN hO QANATOS APO ADAM MECRI MWUSEWS
The factual, objective situation was that death continued to rule over
mankind after Moses as well, and it still rules. A part of this ruling is
made visible by Paul, and to do this he used the aorist form of the verb.
The aorist therefore can code for an open situation (if we by 'situation'
mean the objective state or action - here the ruling of death over
mankind), and if we by 'open' mean an objective situation whose end is not
included in what is focused upon by the verb.
HEBREWS 4:4 KAI KATEPAUSEN hO QEOS EN THi hHMERAi THi hEBDOMHi
The context shows that God's rest still continued ( see v 11), and that it
was possible for the Christians to experience a similar rest from
particular actions (see v 10). Thus no end is seen even though the aorist
is used.
As you imply, we should not draw extensive conclusions as to the meaning of
particular clauses on the basis of the aspect alone - such conclusions must
be based on a study of the interplay of several different factors of which
aspect is one.
Regards
Rolf
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo
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