A Critical Appraisal of the “Verbal Aspect Theory” and Suggestions for Its Exegetical Application and Limitations

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the ongoing debate by critically assessing some of the remarkable advances in the study of ancient Greek that have been made over the past thirty years or so, and to suggest some applications and limitations to the study of the New Testament. First, I present the following consensus among scholars in the debate based on a retrospective assessment by B. M. Fanning. (1) Verbal aspect is key to understanding the verbal meaning of ancient Greek verbs. 2) Aspect is a matter of viewpoint, i.e., the perspective from which the speaker views an action or state of affairs, and is a semantically distinct category from procedural or actional characteristics, commonly referred to as Aktionsarten or kinds of action. 3) The Greek aorist is the perfective aspect, while the present and imperfect are the imperfective aspect. 4) Greek verb forms play an important role in the organization of certain kinds of discourse. I then critically evaluate each of these items, and suggest some points to note the exegetical use of the Verbal Aspect Theory as follows. First, one should not overstate the aspectual value of a tense form during exegesis of its meaning. The aspectual value of a tense form is not, by itself, sufficient to support any particular exegetical claim. Rather than basing an argument on an aspectual value only, it should therefore be supplemented by a variety of other evidences, including context, narrative logic, lexical meaning, usage, and the author