Three Nuances Of The Perfect Indicative In The Greek New Testament

This book analyzes the existence of the three nuances of the perfect tense occurring in the Greek New Testament: resultative-stative, anterior (current relevance), and simple past. The ancient Greek perfect expresses a resultative-stative nuance, with intransitivity dominant. Some of these archaic perfects survived up to the Koine period and appear in the Greek New Testament. In Classical Greek, the perfect went through a transition from resultative to anterior (current relevance) with increasing transitivity. In the Koine period, the Greek perfect shows another semantic change from the anterior to simple past. In the end, the perfect merged with the aorist, ending up in decay. It disappeared until the modern Greek development of a perfect forming using the auxiliary ἔχω.

From their decades of combined teaching experience, Benjamin L. Merkle and Robert L. Plummer have produced an ideal resource for novice Greek students to not only learn the language but also kindle a passion for reading the Greek New Testament. Designed for those new to Greek, Beginning with New Testament Greek is a user-friendly textbook for elementary Greek courses at the college or seminary level.

With many years of experience as a teacher, Stevens has successfully produced a comprehensive and clear Greek grammar guide for beginners and students of the New Testament.

CONTENTS I. THE ALPHABET II. ACCENT III. BREATHINGS IV. DECLENSIONS V. THE VERB: CONJUGATION VI. SEQUENCE VII. THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCE VIII. FINAL CLAUSES IX. INDIRECT DISCOURSE

The Greek Perfect Tense in the Gospel of Mark and the Epistle to the Romans is designed to resolve the confusion that has resulted from Stanley Porter's understanding of the use of Greek perfect tense. For Porter, the perfect tense functions as a third level of "frontground" which denotes the highest prominence on a discourse. Porter has argued that the perfect tense is chosen to deliver a present state, disregarding anterior activity. This book supports the validity of a traditional understanding of the Greek perfect tense, which is rooted in a dual feature. The author argues that the perfect tense is chosen to indicate a present state that results from anterior activity and functions as background for main events or themes. The author formulates three rules to discuss the function of the Greek perfect tense in Mark and Romans. Through the discussion of the perfect tense using these rules, the author finds it appropriate to interpret all the Greek perfects in Mark and Romans in light of the perfect's inherent dual feature. This book should prove useful for seminary students, pastors, or scholars who are struggling with how to interpret the Greek perfect tense in the New Testament.

The following pages deal with the various functions of the various verb-forms of the Greek of the New Testament, so far as respects their mood and tense. It is important that the nature of the relation between form and function be clearly held in mind. It is by no means the case that each form has but one function, and that each function can be discharged by but one form. Forms of various origin may be associated together under one name and perform the same function, or group of functions. --from the IntroductionContents Introductory The Tenses The Moods The Use of Negatives with Verbs

This is a user friendly introductory grammar of New Testament Greek written with the learner in mind. This unique book includes a rapid movement toward encounter with the original text of the New Testament. It highlights the pitfalls and pointers that the reader should note, and presents not just practice exercises at the end of each lesson, but also a practical applications guide for the reader to apply concepts learned. The text contains 31 lessons.