Q: When the women arrived at the tomb, was it open or closed? Matthew 28:2 says that the tomb was closed, but Luke 24:2 says They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
A: The tomb was open; Matthew 28:2-3 is a parenthesis describing an event which took place either before, or as, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were coming to see the tomb. Dan Barker, in his initial Easter Challenge, insists that Matthew 28:2-3 should be understood as something which happened after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrived at the tomb because Matthew uses the aorist tense here. However, Matthew begins 28:2 with the statement that there was (egeneto) a great earthquake, and this introductory phrase is capable of framing what follows as a flashback/parenthesis.
The Dana-Mantey Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament describes the varying shades of meaning which Greek aorists are capable of: the constative aorist, ingressive aorist, culminative aorist, gnomic aorist, and dramatic aorist (and epistolary aorist, though that is not a potential factor here in Matthew 28). I dont have the erudition of Dana or Mantey, but it looks to me like a constative aorist (like in John 2:20 -- It has taken forty-six years to build this temple) or an ingressive aorist (like in Second Corinthians 8:9 -- yet for your sakes He became poor) or a culminative aorist (like Many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us) or even a dramatic aorist (which Dana-Mantey describes as commonly used of a state which has just been realized, or a result which has just been accomplished, or is on the point of being accomplished) is what we have here in Matthew 28:2 -- and, rather than preclude a flashback-parenthesis, any of these would allow that, especially the culminative aorist or the dramatic aorist.
One more point: in 27:57, where we meet Joseph of Arimathea, Matthew says, "there came a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus." This doesn't mean that Joseph had, the moment he enters the picture, become a disciple of Jesus when he approached Pilate; he had become a disciple sometime before this. But the term which Matthew used there -- "ematheteuthe" -- is in the aorist tense. I leave it to objectors to show why, inasmuch as Matthew used an aorist when writing a flashback-occurrence as he introduced Joseph of Arimathea, it was impossible for Matthew to use an aorist when writing a flashback-occurrence as he introduced the angel who rolled away the stone at the tomb.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: The tomb was open; Matthew 28:2-3 is a parenthesis describing an event which took place either before, or as, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were coming to see the tomb. Dan Barker, in his initial Easter Challenge, insists that Matthew 28:2-3 should be understood as something which happened after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrived at the tomb because Matthew uses the aorist tense here. However, Matthew begins 28:2 with the statement that there was (egeneto) a great earthquake, and this introductory phrase is capable of framing what follows as a flashback/parenthesis.
The Dana-Mantey Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament describes the varying shades of meaning which Greek aorists are capable of: the constative aorist, ingressive aorist, culminative aorist, gnomic aorist, and dramatic aorist (and epistolary aorist, though that is not a potential factor here in Matthew 28). I dont have the erudition of Dana or Mantey, but it looks to me like a constative aorist (like in John 2:20 -- It has taken forty-six years to build this temple) or an ingressive aorist (like in Second Corinthians 8:9 -- yet for your sakes He became poor) or a culminative aorist (like Many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us) or even a dramatic aorist (which Dana-Mantey describes as commonly used of a state which has just been realized, or a result which has just been accomplished, or is on the point of being accomplished) is what we have here in Matthew 28:2 -- and, rather than preclude a flashback-parenthesis, any of these would allow that, especially the culminative aorist or the dramatic aorist.
One more point: in 27:57, where we meet Joseph of Arimathea, Matthew says, "there came a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus." This doesn't mean that Joseph had, the moment he enters the picture, become a disciple of Jesus when he approached Pilate; he had become a disciple sometime before this. But the term which Matthew used there -- "ematheteuthe" -- is in the aorist tense. I leave it to objectors to show why, inasmuch as Matthew used an aorist when writing a flashback-occurrence as he introduced Joseph of Arimathea, it was impossible for Matthew to use an aorist when writing a flashback-occurrence as he introduced the angel who rolled away the stone at the tomb.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
