In Acts 11:17 what is the nuance if any of the aorist participle?

[Bill Ross]

Acts 11:17

17 εἰ οὖν τὴν ἴσην δωρεὰν ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ὡς καὶ ἡμῖν **πιστεύσασιν** ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ⸀ἐγὼ τίς ἤμην δυνατὸς κωλῦσαι τὸν θεόν;

Is it acting sort of like a pluperfect?

[Jonathan Robie]

Acts 11:17

17 εἰ οὖν τὴν ἴσην δωρεὰν ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ὡς καὶ ἡμῖν **πιστεύσασιν** ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ⸀ἐγὼ τίς ἤμην δυνατὸς κωλῦσαι τὸν θεόν;

Is it acting sort of like a pluperfect?

Hmmm, more like a perfect, no? In Greek, the aorist often does have a force much like the perfect, especially for stative verbs. I think this sentence probably implies ἔδωκεν in the phrase ὡς καὶ ἡμῖν, it was left out to be less repetitive, but it could have been written like this:

ὡς ἔδωκεν καὶ ἡμῖν πιστεύσασιν ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν

And πιστεύσασιν is an aorist participle that indicates relative time with respect to the main verb, which is the implied ἔδωκεν. The state of believing preceded the giving. "As he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ", where πιστεύσασιν describes the state of believing that was there when the gift was given to us.