Do Verb Tenses Matter?
If there was a survey done of the Church seeking to discover how many Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew scholars there are alive today, we would find a very, very small number. This is true even extending this out to the public at large. It is often stated, “You do not need to be a Greek scholar to understand the Bible”. I believe this is true. There is a difference, however, between being a Greek scholar and utilizing readily available tools to examine the words of the Bible originally written in other languages. There are individuals who have given their lives to studying these languages and they have provided definitions of words, idioms, grammatical structure, verb tenses, and more. Their work is born true through more ancient documentation than we could examine in a lifetime. That work enables us to investigate, understand, and confirm the divine inspiration of scripture more thoroughly.
Do verb tenses matter? Consider the following statements:
Grandma will die. Grandma is dying. Grandma is dead. Grandma died.
Understanding the meaning of the English statements above relies directly upon understanding the verb tenses. Yes, verb tenses matter. Jesus addresses the Sadducees in Matthew 22:23-33 regarding the resurrection. He quotes scripture which the Sadducees should have known and should have inferred there is life after death. Jesus’ argument centered on the verb tense in verse 32: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” The present tense confirms life extends beyond our time on this earth.
I Corinthians 7:15 is a common passage in which people go to attempt to provide a second exception for divorce. They examine the phrase “Is not bound (under bondage, enslaved)” and determine that a divorce may occur because an abandoned spouse is not maritally bound anymore. First, this points to another fact: Words have meaning. Yes, they have meaning and the word “bound” here never means the bond of marriage. There is another word for that in the Greek. This word is used regarding slavery. Thus, if a spouse is abandoned, they do not need to follow the other as if they were a slave. Their choices have already been stated by Paul in verse 11, remain single or reconcile. Second and equally important, the verb tense of “bound” which is the perfect tense causes it to mean “Had not been in bondage and is not under bondage”. Which means if it could grammatically refer to a marital bond (it cannot), that bond never existed. Thus, that meaning which is taken by those looking for a second divorce exception is completely illogical.
One more example of the importance of verb tenses in understanding scripture, Matthew 19:9 reads, “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” Many have attempted to claim that being baptized or even the repentant prayer of a Christian removes the need to divorce the individual with whom they have committed the sin of adultery. The verb tense of the word “adultery” does not allow for it to be a one-time occurrence. I.E., they married an unauthorized individual therefore they committed an instance of adultery. Rather the tense of this word is linear present tense providing the meaning of continuously committing adultery while being in that relationship. Whether one was a Christian while entering into that sin or whether they were an unbeliever when entering that sin and regardless of the action of baptism or a repentant prayer, the condition of committing adultery is not removed until the individual changes that relationship status.
Verb tenses matter. They matter in our English language, and they matter in all languages. The tools of understanding are at our feet. The question remains as to whether we are willing to pick up and utilize those tools. You do not have to be a language scholar, but you do need to be “a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”