Verbs in the Aorist
By Mary Jane Chaignot
Categories: The Bible Question
Could you clarify what it means when verbs are in the aorist? How does that affect the meaning?
For example: In the section on anger in Matthew 5, you’ve said the verbs are in the aorist, meaning once: “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”
Is it because the verbs (I’m assuming go, leave, remember) are in the aorist, it means that we’re supposed to remember, leave, and go reconcile only one time, or that it’s in the present so we have to leave immediately, or just that it just happens once?
Answer
Without making things overly complicated, it helps to know just a little bit about the Greek language. When people are telling a story or writing in Greek, they have two main choices for putting events into the past tense. They can put the verb in the aorist tense or the imperfect tense.
The best way to understand the first option is that it’s a one-time thing. It is like taking a snapshot. Once that film has been exposed, modern cameras automatically advance to the next frame. Once and that is it. Even in the days of the burst photo where photos can be taken continuously, people aren’t ever going to get the exact picture over and over again.
The aorist tense can be used to describe multiple steps in a story. It can refer to events that have happened in the past or just events in general. It can also refer to future events. The important thing to remember is that these actions are happening once; they are not repeated actions.
On the other hand, if Greek writers put a verb in the imperfect tense, it is something that is going on and on and on. It’s happening over and over again. It is describing continuous action. It is the photographer who takes multiple pictures—picture after picture.
English translations have no way of alerting us to the form of the Greek word other than context. For example: At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount it says Jesus “began to speak, and taught them.” The word “taught” is in the imperfect. Many people automatically think of the sermon as a one-time thing, as one moment in time. They think that it happened one afternoon while Jesus was on a mountain. That is probably not the case. This sermon is probably a compilation of words that Jesus said to his disciples over and over again. The disciples heard teachings like this as long as they were with him. Someone wrote it down once, but this is teaching that went on all the time.
In the section on anger in Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus is talking about resolving the issues that have caused the anger. In order to stress how important this is, he says, “When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” Because the words “remember, leave, and go” are in the aorist, they mean STOP what you’re doing. The minute you remember, leave whatever you’re doing, and go fix the situation. Here, the aorist signifies a new pattern of behavior, a new beginning.
The shocking value of his words lies in knowing that people felt their duty to God was higher than any duty to another human. His words, then, are highly unorthodox. Jesus is saying that we can’t possibly talk with God sincerely and openly if we can’t talk to our brother. It actually means our human relationships affect our relationship with God. We are to serve God by serving others. And after we have done this, then we are to go back and worship. He doesn’t say that it takes the place of worshipping God, but now we can worship sincerely. Interestingly, worship is in the indicative, implying continuous action. So we are to worship God over and over, all the time.
It should be noted that the aorist tense does not mean those actions cannot be performed again. If we are angry and remember another unresolved conflict, we should go again to resolve it. In fact, this action might happen every week (or daily) for a while. But the aorist suggests it is a simple one-time event with positive results.
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