The Tense Readings of
the Greek New Testament
Part 3
By Daniel Steele, D.D.
(Past President of Syracuse University)
3. But when we come to consider the work of purification in the believer's soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, both in the new birth and
in entire sanctification, we find that the aorist is almost uniformly used.
This tense, according to the best New Testament grammarians, never indicates a continuous, habitual, or repeated act, but
one which is momentary, and done once for all. We adduce a few illustrative passages: —
Matt. viii. 2, 3: And behold, there came a leper, and he kept worshipping
(imperfect) Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst cleanse (aor.) me once for all. And Jesus, stretching out (aor.) His
hand, touched (aor.) him, saying, I will, be thou instantaneously cleansed (aor.). The leper prayed to be cleansed, not gradually,
but instantly, and it was done at a stroke, according to his faith.
Matt. xiv. 36, illustrates the difference between the imperfect
and the aorist: And they kept beseeching (imp.) that they might touch just once (aor.) only the hem of His garment; and as
many as only once touched (aor.) were instantaneously healed (aor.).
Matt. xxiii. 25, 26: Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites:
for ye are constantly cleansing (pres.) the outside of the cup and the platter, but within are full of extortion and injustice.
Thou blind Pharisee, first cleanse (aor.) at a stroke the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may instantly
become (aor.) clean also. If Christ had commanded a gradual inward cleansing He would have used the present tense, "be cleansing
by degrees."
Luke xvii. 14: And it came to pass that while they were going (pres.)
they were instantaneously healed (aor.).
John xiii. 8: "If I wash (aor.) thee not, thou hast no part with
Me." This washing is not the new birth, for Peter was already regenerate. Of His apostles Christ said, "They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world." "I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John xvii. 13; xv. 5). It must therefore symbolize
entire sanctification. This cleansing after regeneration is taught in John xiii. 10 (R.V.), "He that is bathed needeth not
save to wash (aor.) his feet, but is ever whit clean." Peter was partially but not entirely sanctified. "These words of Jesus,"
says Alford, "awakened a feeling of his own want of cleansing." Thus teach Stier, Bengel, and others. Tholuck says, "Only
the extremities were yet to be purified. It was only needful that the internal principle should unfold itself further and
penetrate the whole man." But the aorist tense indicates not a gradual process but a momentary and decisive act of cleansing.
John xvii. 17-19: Sanctify (aor., imperative) them once for all
through Thy truth, that is, through faith in the distinctive office and work of the Comforter . . . And for their sakes I
am consecrating (pres.) myself, in order that they in reality may have been permanently sanctified. Christ's was not a real
sanctification or cleansing, inasmuch as He was never polluted; but the disciples needed sanctification in reality, or "truly." This is the suggested meaning of the words, "through the truth." See Bagster's marginal
reading. Compare 2 Cor. vii 14. Says Winer: "In the New Testament the obvious distinction between the imperative aorist —
as sanctify, above — and the imperative present is uniformly maintained.
The imperative aorist denotes an action that is either rapidly completed and transient, or viewed as occurring but once. The
imperative present denotes an action already commenced and to be continued, or an action going on, or to be frequently repeated."
Both the aorist and the present are sometimes used in the same sentence, as in John ii. 16: Take (aor.) these things hence
instantly, and be not making (pres.) My Father's house a house of merchandise. I Cor. xv. 34: Awake (aor.), and be not sinning
(pres.) or stop sinning. Acts xv. 11: But we habitually believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we were saved
(aor., by a momentary and completed act) even as they, (saved from guilt, not saved eternally). Rom. vi. 13: Here occurs a
beautiful instance of this distinction, affording an undoubted proof-text for instantaneous sanctification, which is not seen
in the English version: Nor render repeatedly (present imperative) your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin;
but render (aor., by a final act of unreserved surrender, once for all) yourselves (not your members by a repeated and piecemeal
consecration) to God (or for God's cause, says Tholuck), as alive from the dead. Says Alford: "The present imperative above
denotes habit; the exhortation guards against the recurrence of a devotion of the members to sin; this aorist imperative,
on the other hand, as in chap. xii. 1, denotes an act of self-devotion to God, once for all, not a mere recurrence of the
habit." Tholuck's annotation brings out the completeness of this text as a proof of cleansing from original sin, "adikia, ungodliness in general; hamartia, the indwelling, predominant love of sin."
Acts xv. 9: Instantaneously purifying (aor.) their hearts by faith.
This verse is a key to the instantaneous sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit wrought in the hearts of believers on the day
of Pentecost, since the words even as he did unto us refer to that occasion. See Acts x. 45-47.
Rom. vi. 6: Knowing this, that our old man was crucified (aor.)
once for all, that the body (being or totality) of sin might be destroyed (aor., at a stroke), that henceforth we should no
longer be serving (pres.) sin. For he who once for all (aor.) died (unto sin) has been justified from sin. The aorist here
teaches the possibility of an instantaneous death-stroke to inbred sin, and that there is no need of a slow and painful process,
lingering till physical death or purgatorial fires end the torment. Men are not crucified limb by limb, after one part is
dead finding a hand or arm or finger alive, but the whole life is extinguished all at once. A class of interpreters, who are
afraid of entire sanctification in this life, and are especially horrified at an instantaneous purification by the stroke
of Omnipotence, tone down the word "destroy" to "render inoperative or powerless."
The strength of this verb will be seen by studying the following texts, where it is rendered by "abolish," "consume", or "destroy."
2 Cor. iii. 13: "And not as Moses which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to
the end of that which is abolished." Eph. ii. 15: "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace." 2 Tim. i. 10: ". . . Our Saviour Jesus
Christ Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." I Cor. xv. 26: "The last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 2 Thess. ii. 8: "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." Heb.ii. 14: "Forasmuch as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same: that through death He might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is the devil."
Rom. xii.1: That ye present (aor.) your bodies (as a single act,
never needing to be repeated). The body is specified, because, says Tholuck, it is the organ of practical activity, or, as
Olshausen, De Wette, and Alford say, "as an indication that the sanctification of Christian life is to extend to that part
of man's nature which is most completely under bondage to sin." If in Paul's conception believers were to be sinning and repenting
all their days, as the best that grace could do for them, he would have used the present imperative, "Be presenting your bodies
again and again." In Alford's note on I Peter ii. 5: Ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,
to offer (aor.) up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ; he says: "The aorist is here used, because no
habitual offering, as in rite or festival, is meant, but the one, once for all, devotion of the body, as in Rom. xii.1, to
God as His." Both of these are proof-texts of a sharply-defined transition in Christian experience, called entire consecration,
the human part of entire sanctification. That neither of these texts refers to justification is shown (1) by the fact that
the persons addressed are already Christians; (2) by the requirement that the sacrifice be holy (Rom. xii. 1), that is, accepted, as the lamb was examined by the priest, and pronounced fit for sacrifice,
or acceptable to Jehovah; and I Pet. ii, 5, requires a holy or accepted priesthood, both of which requirements symbolize a
state of justification before God.
Rom. xiii. 14: Put ye on (aor., a single definite act) the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make (pres.) not, that is, quit making, provision for the flesh, etc.
I Cor. v, 7: Purge out (aor.) the old leaven, that ye may be a new
lump. This summary and instantaneous excision of the incestuous offender illustrates the force of the aorist in verbs signifying
to purify.
I Cor. vi. 11: But ye washed yourselves (aor., middle) by submitting
to outward baptism; ye were sanctified (aor.), ye were justified (aor.). Here the sanctification is a momentary and completed
act, the same as the justification. By the figure called the inverted chiasmus the words "were justified" are placed last.
The natural English order would be, "were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and were sanctified by the Spirit of our
God." See Meyer.
2 Cor. i. 21, 22: Now, He who is continually establishing us with
you, in Christ, and who once for all anointed (aor.) us, is God, who also sealed us (aor.) and gave (aor.) the earnest of
the Spirit in our hearts. Here the stablishing is constant, the anointing, sealing, and endowment are momentary and completed
acts.
2 Cor. v. 21: The received text reads, "that we might be made (pres.,
being made) the righteousness," etc. Meyer, quoting Stallbaum's note on Crito,
insists that this present tense signifies that that which was proposed has not yet been accomplished and passed by, but endures
to the present. But Alford finds that all the best manuscripts have the aorist tense, indicating one accomplished act. This
may refer to the redemption of the whole race, or the transition of individuals into a state of holiness. Paul's use of the
we favours the latter view.
2 Cor. vi. 13: Be ye also enlarged (aor.) by the sudden baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
2 Cor. vii.1: Let us cleanse (aor.) ourselves at a stroke from every
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting (pres.) holiness in the fear of the Lord. If Paul had been exhorting to a gradual
inward cleansing he would certainly have used the present tense. The chapter division is here very unfortunate, and very much
obscures the writer's thought. Bengel puts this verse in the paragraph which closes the sixth chapter. The course of the argument
is this: The promise of the Old Testament was that ye should be sons and daughters of God. Having realized the fulfilment
of this promise by adoption, let us who are sons cleanse ourselves, etc. Cleansing is here viewed as a human work, inasmuch
as our application of the purifying power is by faith, as we are to make unto ourselves new hearts by availing ourselves of
the regenerating Spirit. Paul uses the adhortative form, "let us cleanse," instead of the exhortatory form, "cleanse ye,"
simply to soften the command by including himself. This beauty of Greek rhetoric could not be quoted to prove that the writer
was polluted in the flesh and in the spirit. that is, was indulging in sensual and in spiritual sins. See James iii. 5, 6,
and I Pet. iv. 3. The doctrine of this passage is that the faith that appropriates the Sanctifier is a momentary act, lifting
the soul out of all outward or carnal, and inward or spiritual, sin. Had the process of sanctification been like washing a
mud statue, a continuous and never completed work, as some teach, Paul would not have failed to express this idea by using
the present tense: Let us be continually cleansing, etc. While the doctrine of instantaneous sanctification is taught by the
aorist tense in this verse, the seemingly paradoxical doctrine of progressive sanctification is also taught by the present
participle, "perfecting" holiness, etc. This word in this passage is defined
in Bagster's Greek Testament Lexicon thus, "to carry into practice, to realize." The perfect inward cleansing instantaneously
wrought by the Holy Spirit through faith is to be constantly and progressively carried outward into all the acts of daily
life, as the moral discrimination becomes more and more acute with the increase of knowledge.
Gal. i. 15, 16: But when it pleased God, who separated (aor.) me
from my mother's womb, and called (aor.) me by His grace, to reveal (aor.) His Son in me, etc. The words rendered separated and called are aorist participles. Says Goodwin:
"The aorist participle regularly refers to a momentary or single action, which is past with reference to the time of the leading
verb." In this passage the leading verb is "pleased." After his birth and
calling, or conversion, there was an instantaneous revelation of the Son of God within, to the spiritual eye, as there had
been an objective revelation of the form of the Son of man to Paul's physical eye on his way to Damascus. Both Ellicott and
Alford insist that the sequence of tenses here teaches that this inward revelation of Christ was after his conversion. This
may well be styled Paul's second blessing. This is in harmony with Christ's promise that He would manifest Himself to those
who already love Him and evince their love by their obedience; John xiv. 21: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself
to him." John xvi. 14: "He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you."
