John 8:6, 8 ἔγραφεν significance of the (2nd) imperfect?

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Stephen Hughes
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Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

John 8:6, 8 ἔγραφεν significance of the (2nd) imperfect?

Post by Stephen Hughes »

I'm supposing that the imperfect here is inceptive "he started to write". Logically the second time in verse 8 would be "he continued to write", which doesn't seem to be inceptive. [In fact there seem to be a larger number of imperfects in this passage than there usually is in the same length of text.]

Is the use of the imperfect here significant?
John 8:6, 8 wrote:Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγον πειράζοντες αὐτόν , ἵνα ἔχωσιν κατηγορίαν κατ’ αὐτοῦ . Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς κάτω κύψας, τῷ δακτύλῳ ἔγραφεν (NAUSB κατέγραφεν) εἰς τὴν γῆν.
...
8 Καὶ πάλιν κάτω κύψας ἔγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν .
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
timothy_p_mcmahon
Posts: 259
Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:47 pm

Re: John 8:6, 8 ἔγραφεν significance of the (2nd) imperfect?

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

Could it likewise be ingressive?

I think we can infer from πάλιν κάτω κύψας that Jesus stood up and stopped writing, so wouldn't ἔγραφεν in v.8 indicate that he resumed - began again - writing?
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