When Perfect Is Not A Good Thing – Part 2
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God [John 3:16-18].
Let me explain the difference between the aorist tense and the perfect tense of Greek verbs. I believe you will agree with me that sometimes being perfect is not a good thing. You needn’t remember the names of the verb tenses, dear friends, only the difference between them. The Holy Spirit purposely chose the verb tenses to teach us a lot of deep spiritual truth.
The aorist tense means that something happened in the past one time only, and that is the extent of the action. The perfect tense means that something occurred in the past one time only, but the emphasis is on its continuing effect. Whatever occurred continues to remain true up to the present day. “Once upon a time something happened” = aorist tense. “Once upon a time something happened, and now look at the mess we’re in!” = perfect tense.
Here is a for instance to help understand what I just stated. Aorist Tense: “He killed a man two years ago.” Perfect Tense: “He has contracted AIDS and now is incurable.” See! In the first example the person isn’t continuously killing a man. Nor does the sentence refer to anything going on today. Once upon a time two years ago this person killed a man. Period. That’s all the past tense verb states.
In the second example the person isn’t continuously contracting AIDS. Nor does the sentence simply note that at one point in the past he contracted AIDS. The verb being perfect tense, the emphasis is upon the man’s AIDS having the continuing effect of rendering him incurable to the present day. I hope this helps you to understand the distinction because vital spiritual understanding grows out of this field. Let’s harvest it now, shall we?
In John 3:18 anyone who believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not judged. The verb is present tense. We explained five paragraphs prior what this means. In contrast, though, anyone who does not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been judge already. The verb is perfect tense. This means that sometime in the past the person was already judged guilty, and the effect of this judgment is that he continues to remain guilty. The emphasis is upon his present condition, which was caused sometime in the past.
A weighty Biblical mystery is revealed by this usage of verb tenses. God created each species to produce after its own kind. It matters not whether it be vegetable, animal, or human. Apple seeds do not grow pears, not thistles produce corn. Monkeys do not evolve into humans either! Apple seeds grow apple trees which produce more apples. Monkeys give birth to monkeys. Humans give birth to humans. It matters not how many surreal ages of evolution we add to the mix of our hypothesis, no one has ever seen anything in real life which shows one species changing into another.
The Bible has a penchant for employing visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. The fact that each species ALWAYS reproduces after its own kind is one example of this. How so? Just this, that sinners cannot produce saints. Sinners produce sinners. When Father Adam sinned, he became a sinner. Whereas every human being has a genealogy which traces back to Father Adam, every human being is a sinner. Why? Because Father Adam was a sinner, and sinners can only reproduce sinners.
This is the reason why any person who does not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been judged already, and I might add that he has been found wanting and condemned already. Don’t miss the implications of this. The perfect tense verb usage in John 3:18 proclaims the doctrine of the total depravity of man. We are born sinners. We are born with a sin nature. We are born with a predilection to disobey the Word of God, to reject Him and do our own thing.
• the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)
• all have sinned (Romans 3:23)
• ergo, all must die.
We have already been judged and condemned, you see, because we are sinners. UNTIL we believe the Gospel and accept Jesus Christ as the payment for our sins, we remain in that condition (perfect tense). Anytime a person does accept Jesus’ death as the payment for his sins, he is not judged because he is no longer a sinner. The penalty for his sins has already been paid by the Lord Jesus on the cross, and IT IS FINISHED!
Hallelujah! Such a profound and wonderful mystery to be revealed by the simple usage of verb tenses. Each person is born dead in his sins and separated from God. Each person remains this way until he hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and accepts Jesus as His Savior. Fine revelation, that.
So this is your chance. If you have yet to believe the Gospel, what are you waiting for? Behold, now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Let me explain the difference between the aorist tense and the perfect tense of Greek verbs. I believe you will agree with me that sometimes being perfect is not a good thing. You needn’t remember the names of the verb tenses, dear friends, only the difference between them. The Holy Spirit purposely chose the verb tenses to teach us a lot of deep spiritual truth.
The aorist tense means that something happened in the past one time only, and that is the extent of the action. The perfect tense means that something occurred in the past one time only, but the emphasis is on its continuing effect. Whatever occurred continues to remain true up to the present day. “Once upon a time something happened” = aorist tense. “Once upon a time something happened, and now look at the mess we’re in!” = perfect tense.
Here is a for instance to help understand what I just stated. Aorist Tense: “He killed a man two years ago.” Perfect Tense: “He has contracted AIDS and now is incurable.” See! In the first example the person isn’t continuously killing a man. Nor does the sentence refer to anything going on today. Once upon a time two years ago this person killed a man. Period. That’s all the past tense verb states.
In the second example the person isn’t continuously contracting AIDS. Nor does the sentence simply note that at one point in the past he contracted AIDS. The verb being perfect tense, the emphasis is upon the man’s AIDS having the continuing effect of rendering him incurable to the present day. I hope this helps you to understand the distinction because vital spiritual understanding grows out of this field. Let’s harvest it now, shall we?
In John 3:18 anyone who believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not judged. The verb is present tense. We explained five paragraphs prior what this means. In contrast, though, anyone who does not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been judge already. The verb is perfect tense. This means that sometime in the past the person was already judged guilty, and the effect of this judgment is that he continues to remain guilty. The emphasis is upon his present condition, which was caused sometime in the past.
A weighty Biblical mystery is revealed by this usage of verb tenses. God created each species to produce after its own kind. It matters not whether it be vegetable, animal, or human. Apple seeds do not grow pears, not thistles produce corn. Monkeys do not evolve into humans either! Apple seeds grow apple trees which produce more apples. Monkeys give birth to monkeys. Humans give birth to humans. It matters not how many surreal ages of evolution we add to the mix of our hypothesis, no one has ever seen anything in real life which shows one species changing into another.
The Bible has a penchant for employing visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. The fact that each species ALWAYS reproduces after its own kind is one example of this. How so? Just this, that sinners cannot produce saints. Sinners produce sinners. When Father Adam sinned, he became a sinner. Whereas every human being has a genealogy which traces back to Father Adam, every human being is a sinner. Why? Because Father Adam was a sinner, and sinners can only reproduce sinners.
This is the reason why any person who does not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been judged already, and I might add that he has been found wanting and condemned already. Don’t miss the implications of this. The perfect tense verb usage in John 3:18 proclaims the doctrine of the total depravity of man. We are born sinners. We are born with a sin nature. We are born with a predilection to disobey the Word of God, to reject Him and do our own thing.
• the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)
• all have sinned (Romans 3:23)
• ergo, all must die.
We have already been judged and condemned, you see, because we are sinners. UNTIL we believe the Gospel and accept Jesus Christ as the payment for our sins, we remain in that condition (perfect tense). Anytime a person does accept Jesus’ death as the payment for his sins, he is not judged because he is no longer a sinner. The penalty for his sins has already been paid by the Lord Jesus on the cross, and IT IS FINISHED!
Hallelujah! Such a profound and wonderful mystery to be revealed by the simple usage of verb tenses. Each person is born dead in his sins and separated from God. Each person remains this way until he hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and accepts Jesus as His Savior. Fine revelation, that.
So this is your chance. If you have yet to believe the Gospel, what are you waiting for? Behold, now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
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