Paul Himes, «The Use of the Aorist Imperative in the Pastoral Epistles» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 23 (2010) 73-92 page 92

Vol 23 (2010)

Paul Himes, «The Use of the Aorist Imperative in the Pastoral Epistles», Vol. 23 (2010) 73-92

In light of recent developments in the study of Koine Greek, this paper proposes to examine the difference between the aorist imperative and the present imperative in the Pastoral Epistles. The first section of the paper surveys the various scholarly positions on the imperative mood (including the prohibitory aorist subjunctive). The second portion of this paper examines every use of the aorist imperative and the aorist prohibitory subjunctive in the Pastoral Epistles, while the third section draws some conclusions based on this analysis. This paper concludes that the aorist tense should be regarded as the default, generic tense (but not necessarily the “background tense” as verbal aspect theory argues), and that its only significance lies in its insignificance. In contrast, however, the present tense does seem to possess a durative/habitual sense.

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92 Paul Himes habitual action. Timothy’s life, then, is to be characterized by spiritual consistency. 5. Conclusion As a student, it is somewhat easy to get discouraged when faced with the mound of confusion and uncertainty regarding the Koine verb tenses. Compounding the problem is the fact that commentaries rarely deal extensively with the issue of verb tenses per se, though that does not keep them from making many observations on tense change70. While the jury is still out regarding verb tenses, even imperative verb tenses, at the least one can tentatively conclude that the aorist imperative in the Pastoral Epistles is significant only in its being overshadowed by the vast use of the present imperative and that Paul thus places an emphasis on continuous performance and a consistent lifestyle over simple obedience to generic commands.71 Paul HIMES 14 McDowell Drive Wake Forest, NC USA 27587 phimes@gmail.com 70 Would it be too much to suggest that future commentaries on New Testament books, in their “introduction” section, offer a few pages that deal with the author’s own view of the Greek verb system in relation to the views of Porter, Baugh, et. al.? 71 This writer is grateful for the interaction, questions, and comments of the audience for an earlier draft of this paper at the 2010 fall meeting of the Evangelical Theological So- ciety (Atlanta, USA), as well as the comments and critique of fellow student Mike Rudolph on an even earlier version of this paper. Any mistakes or faulty argumentation are the sole responsibility of this writer.