Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 12:1 (Fall 2007)
Article: A Brief Introduction to Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek
Author: Andrew David Naselli

DBSJ 12 (2007) p. 17

A Brief Introduction to Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek1

Andrew David Naselli2

Books and articles on verbal aspect in NT Greek have been part of the cutting edge of Greek grammar and syntax for about two decades. The conversation accelerated with the published dissertations of Stanley E. Porter and Buist M. Fanning,3 and by the early 1990s, D. A. Carson observed, “From now on, treatments of the verbal system of New Testament Greek that do not probingly interact with Porter and Fanning will rule themselves outmoded.”4 The growing literature on verbal aspect has validated Carson’s observation, but despite this mass of literature, it “has caused a good degree of unrest,”5 and NT

DBSJ 12 (2007) p. 18

scholarship has taken a surprisingly long time to integrate advances in verbal aspect with NT studies.6 As this process of integration accelerates, many wise pastors and teachers will want to be informed about verbal aspect and its practical value with reference to preaching and teaching.

This essay briefly introduces verbal aspect in NT Greek. It is merely an explanatory introduction to verbal aspect, not a defense of it (although the author is admittedly postured in favor of it). At the risk of being reductionistic, this essay attempts to summarize an overwhelmingly complex debate. It targets pastors and seminarians with at least a few years of Greek training, and it assumes that the reader knows virtually nothing about verbal aspect. It is admittedly not an easy read for those first encountering some of the concepts and linguistic jargon, but investing the time and energy to understand the basic issues regarding verbal aspect theory is worth the effort.

The Meaning Of Verbal Aspect Theory

Verbal aspect theory distinguishes between a tense-form’s7 semantics and pragmatics. Semantics refers to the a-contextual meaning, that is, a tense-form’s meaning apart from a specific context. Pragmatics refers to contextual meaning, that is, its meaning in a specific context.

According to verbal aspect theory, the semantics of a tense-form indicates only the author’s or speaker’s subjective portrayal of an action (aspect), and the overall pragmatics indicates the action’s objective nature (Aktionsart and time). Aspect concerns how authors or speakers want their audiences to vie...