Contents: A. The Presuppositions of the NT Concept of νῦ ν: I.

The Forms of the Word (νῦ ν,

νυνί, ἄ ρτι). II. The Forms of Use (Adv., Noun, Adj.). III. The Non-Temporal νῦ ν: 1. νῦ ν
as a Connecting Particle; 2. νῦ ν as a Particle of Logical Antithesis; 3. καὶ νῦ ν ==
Nevertheless. IV. The Temporal νῦ ν: 1. νῦ ν as a Limit of Time; 2. νῦ ν as a Period of Time;
3. νῦ ν with Reference to Past and Future. B. The NT Now: I. νῦ ν as the Divine Hour. II.
νῦ ν as a Divinely Delineated Period: 1. The History of Christ as Present; 2. The NT νῦ ν
between the Comings; a. Intimations; b. The Uniqueness of the NT νῦ ν; 3. The NT Still: a.
In the Old Aeon; b. In the Time of Christ between the Comings; 4. The NT Already: a. νῦ ν
in Parallelism with the Past; b. νῦ ν in Antithesis to the Past; c. νῦ ν as an Anticipation of the
Last Things; d. νῦ ν as a Proleptic First Stage of the Last Things; 5. Stages of the NT Now; 6.
Once and Now in the Life of the Individual Christian. III. νῦ ν with the Imperative: 1. νῦ ν in
NT Exhortation. 2. νῦ ν in NT Prayer. IV. The Significance of the NT View of the Now.

A. The Presuppositions of the NT Concept of νῦ ν.

I. The Forms of the Word (νῦ ν, νυνί, ἄ ρτι).

For the concept “now” the Greek language, like many other Indo-European tongues
which have related forms,1 uses νῦ ν and νυνί (with a strengthening or epideictic -ί).2

NT New Testament.
Adv. adverb.
Adj. adjective.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
1E.g., Lat. nunc, German nun, English “now” etc.; cf. Boisacq, s.v.
2Cf. K. Meisterhans, Grammatik d. attischen Inschriften (1900), 147 with n. 1267; in
the NT the strengthening -ί is found only here, Bl.-Debr. §64, 2. It is now hardly
possible, however, to find any distinction between νῦν and νυνί, for νῦν δέ is often
used in emphatic antitheses. Hence the readings often vacillate between νῦν δέ and
νυνὶ δέ, as already in the LXX, e.g., Jos. 22:4; Job 4:5; for the NT cf. R. 11:30; 1 C.
12:18, 20; Phlm. 9; Hb. 8:6. Nevertheless, it is true that in logical antithesis Paul
prefers νυνὶ δέ (→ 1109); cf. J. Weiss 1 K., 305, n. 2.
 Whereas νυνί is in the koine pap. at least as common as νῦ ν,3 it is much less frequent in
the bibl. koine. In the LXX it is more common in the much more literary Gk. of some books
like Job, 2 and 4 Macc.,4 in the NT it occurs almost exclusively5 in the Pauline Epistles (not
the Past.)6 and Hb. V 4, p 1107
Yet νῦ ν is not equally distributed over the whole of the NT. It is common only in Pl. (52
times), Lk. (39) and Jn. (28).7
In NT Gk. ἄ ρτι is almost synon.8 with νῦ ν in its temporal senses. But it is much less
common, and is not found at all in Mk., Lk., Ac., Past. or Hb.

II. The Forms of Use (Adverb, Noun, Adjective).

νῦ ν is strictly an adv., but in the NT, mostly in fixed phrases, it is also used as a noun
and adj. (cf. in part also νυνί and ἄ ρτι, → n. 10).
1. A transitional form to use as a noun is the occasional use of νῦ ν and ἄ ρτι in

pap. Papyrus, shortened to P. when specific editions are quoted.

3 Mayser, I2, 3, 119, 44.
bibl. biblical.
Gk. Greek.
4 Thackeray, 191, cf. p. 13, 15 f.

NT New Testament.
5 Elsewhere only Ac. 22:1; 24:13, the only places in the NT where νυνί is not in an

adversative relation; in Pl. and Hb. it is regularly followed by δέ (→ n. 2).

6 N.ägeli;, 83, 86, 88.

NT New Testament.
7 Cf. J. C. Hawkins, Horae Synopticae (1899), 17, though he leaves the erroneous

impression that νῦν is found only in the Gospels, Ac. and Pl.
NT New Testament.
Gk. Greek.
synon. synonym.
8 Cf. Poll. Onom., I, 72: ἄρτι, ὅ ἐστι πρὸ μικροῦ, καὶ νῦν δή, δή ὅ ἐστι ταὐτόν. How

closely ἄρτι and νῦν approximate may be seen from a whole series of expressions
which have their roots in either the one or the other. Like the class. ἄρτι, νῦν too can
denote what has just happened, the immediate past (ἄρτι, e.g., Mt. 9:18; Rev. 12:10;
in the LXX Da. 9:22; νῦν, Jn. 11:8 “just now”; 21:10 “now”). On the other hand, in the
koine ἄρτι may, with νῦν, denote the present strictly as a pt. of time, e.g., Gl. 1:9 f., or
as a period of time, e.g., 1 C. 13:12. Thus the two are almost completely
interchangeable in the NT, cf. esp. Jn. 13:36 f.; cf. also Jos. Ant., 1, 125 etc., but cf. → n.
46.
adv. adverb.
NT New Testament.
adj. adjective.
10 Not so νυνί and ἄρτι, which are used only as adv. and occasionally as adj. (νυνί,
Ac. 22:1; ἄρτι 1 C. 4:11, → 1108).
 dependence on prepositions: ἀ πʼ ἄ ρτι (Mt. 23:39; 26:29, 64), “from now on,” in Jn. (13:19;
14:7) just “now”;9 ἕως ἄ ρτι (e.g., 1 Jn. 2:9, cf. ἕως νῦ ν, 1 Βασ. 1:16; 3 Βασ. 3:2) and
ἄ χρι νῦ ν (Ac. 13:31 vl., cf. μέχρι νῦ ν ψ 70:17; Ign. Mg., 8, 1), “until now.”
2. But more commonly in such cases νῦ ν10 is a noun: ἀ πὸ τοῦ νῦ ν (== ἀ πʼ ἄ ρτι),
frequent in the LXX (e.g., Is. 48:6; Tob. 7:12),11 for the most part only in Lk. in the NT (1:48;
5:10 etc.; Ac. 18:6, though cf. 2 C. 5:16);12 ἄ χρι τοῦ νῦ ν, only in Pl. (Phil. 1:5; R. 8:22; cf.
μέχρι τοῦ νῦ ν, 3 Macc. 6:28; 1 Esr. 6:19), == ἕως τοῦ νῦ ν,13 only in the Synoptists (Mk.
13:19 == Mt. 24:21) and common in the LXX, e.g., Gn. 15:16; 1 Macc. 2:33. The phrase14
emphasises either the great distance in time15 (up to the present day, e.g., Dt. 12:9), or the

9 But not the vl. in Jn. 1:51 (in the sense of Mt. 26:64); may one conclude from this
that the reading is not Johannine? As a counterpart to ἀπʼ ἄρτι cf. ἀπὸ τότε in Lk.
16:16.
vl. varia lectio.
Ign. Ignatius.
Mg. ad Magnesios.
10 Not so νυνί and ἄρτι, which are used only as adv. and occasionally as adj. (νυνί, Ac.

22:1; ἄρτι 1 C. 4:11, → 1108).

11 For instances from secular Gk. v. Pr.-Bauer, s.v. νῦν and Deissmann NB, 81. Like ἀπʼ

ἄρτι in Jn. (→ supra), ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν in the LXX often has the simple sense of “now”
(e.g., Gn. 46:30; 3 Βασ. 18:29, also in the common phrase ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἕως τοῦ
αἰῶνος e.g., ψ 113:26 [Ps. 115:18]; 130:3 etc.); it can also be taken this way in some
Pauline passages, e.g., 2 C. 5:16.
NT New Testament.
12 Hck. Lk. calls it a rare term peculiar to Lk. (in the Synoptists); Mt. has instead ἀπʼ

ἄρτι (cf. Mt. 26:29 with Lk. 22:18; Mt. 26:64 with Lk. 22:69). Deissmann NB, 80 f.
thinks it was common formal speech, as shown by many stereotyped additions of
the LXX: καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος (e.g., ψ 120:8; 124:2, → n. 11), καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
(χρόνον) (Is. 9:6; 59:21; cf. 18:7; Mi. 4:7), εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον (1 Macc. 11:36; cf.
15:8), etc.
13 Schleusner, NT Lex., s.v. supplies ὄντος καιροῦ or μέρους τοῦ χρόνου. This might

be justified on the basis of 1 Esr. 6:19 (ἀπʼ ἐκείνου μέχρι τοῦ νῦν), where χρόνου has
to be added to ἐκείνου, but cf. on the use of τὸ νῦν (τὰ νῦν) Bl.-Debr. §266, 1 and 2
(→ n. 17).
14 ἕως τοῦ νῦν is a formal expression like ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν (→ n. 12), chiefly in manifestly

stereotyped combinations with ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς κόσμου (κτίσεως) Mt. 24:21 (Mk. 13:19)
or ἐκ παιδός (παιδιόθεν, νεότητος), Gn. 46:34 (47:3 cod. A; 2 Βασ. 19:8; cf. Ez. 4:14:
ἀπὸ γενέσεώς μου) etc. (Ex. 10:6 is esp. rich). Counterparts are ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς κόσμου
ἕως τοῦ νῦν and ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν (καὶ) εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
15 Cf. the similar expressions ἄχρι τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης, Ac. 2:29, μέχρι τῆς σήμερον,

Mt. 11:23; cf. 28:15, ἕως (τῆς) σήμερον, Sir. 47:7 (8); 2 C. 3:15 (Mt. 27:8). In the LXX
we almost always find the stereotyped ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας (e.g., Gn. 19:37 f.;
Ez. 2:3; R. 11:8 == Dt. 29:3) or ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης (e.g., Dt. 29:3; Is. 39:6).
 uninterrupted nature of the process16 (Mk. 13:19; cf. R. 8:22). V 4, p 1108
3. Without prep., as an acc. of time, the noun νῦ ν is rarer in the sing.17 than the plur.: τὰ
νῦ ν (often written τανῦ ν)18 has either a purely temporal sense (== νῦ ν,19 Ac. 17:30) or a
very weak meaning (καὶ τὰ νῦ ν, “and now” corresponding to the common introductory
formula of the LXX, καὶ νῦ ν → n. 24, so Ac. 4:29 etc.).
4. Like all Gk. adverbs of time νῦ ν, νυνί and ἄ ρτι can also be used as attributive adj.
between the art. and noun; this does not have to imply that an original παρώ ν has been

16 Cf. the related expressions ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας (1 C. 4:11), ἄχρι τῆς σήμερον
ἡμέρας (2 C. 3:14), ἄχρι ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρας (Ac. 23:1; 26:22); cf. also ἄχρι νῦν (Ac.
13:31 D etc.), ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο (R. 1:13). The same thought often occurs in the LXX
expressions mentioned in → n. 15 ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας (e.g., Nu. 22:30; Dt. 11:4)
and ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης (e.g., Ex. 10:6, esp. often Jer., e.g., 3:25; 11:7 [Θ]), which
with this ambiguity are true equivalents of ἕως τοῦ νῦν.
prep. preposition.
acc. accusative.
sing. singular.
17 τὸ νῦν can be a true noun in the sense of “the present,” e.g., Aristot. Phys., IV, 10, p.

218a, 6. It is also used adv. for “now,” e.g., Ex. 9:27; Jos. Bell., 7, 240; Ps. Clem. Hom.,
12, 2; Plat. Theaet., 187b, but not in the NT, only once (Ac. 24:25) τὸ νῦν ἔχον, “as
concerns the present,” “for now” (cf. Bl.-Debr. §160), cf. also Tob. 7:11 A B (‫ א‬has καὶ
νῦν), also Luc. Tyr., 13 etc. τὸ νῦν εἶναι is related to the pleonastic εἶναι (e.g., Plat.
Resp., VI, 506e), cf. τὸ πρίν == τότε, e.g., (Luc.) Philopatris, 1.
plur. plural.
18 Cf. Tisch. NT Prolegomena, 111.

19 Like τὸ νῦν, τὰ νῦν can be a true noun for “present events,” e.g., 1 Esr. 1:31 (33);

Jdt. 9:5, but it is also an adv. == νῦν, cf. already in Attic (Gregorius Corinthius, De
Dialecto Attica, 56: Ἀττικὸν καὶ τὸ λέγειν ἀντὶ τοῦ νῦν “τανῦν,” ed. Schaefer [1811],
p. 120, n. 71), e.g., Eur. Med., 494. But it does not occur in this sense in the LXX; for
the NT cf. Ac. 17:30 and perhaps also 20:32 (though → n. 24). The temporal element
is particularly strong in phrases like τὰ νῦν τάδε (e.g., Hdt., 7, 104) and τὰ νῦν ταῦτα
(e.g., Alciphr. Ep., III, 22 and 71).
24 καὶ τὰ νῦν (also, e.g., Test. L. 10:1) seems to be a form of direct speech in Ac., but
not the Gospels. The corresponding LXX formula (also Test. XII) καὶ νῦν (which falls
under the strongly Semitic use of καί) is mostly in direct speech (e.g., Mi. 4:9, 11;
Am. 7:16 etc.; Test. L. 14:1; 16:1 etc.), esp. in prayers (cf. Ac. 4:29 → 1122, esp. Da.,
e.g., 9:17, also Jon. 4:3; Is. 64:8) and admonitions (→ 1121, e.g., Ιερ. 49 [42]:19; Is.
2:10; Test. S. 3:1; L. 13:1 etc.), though also to introduce direct speech (e.g., Jl. 2:12;
Hag. 1:5) and in other ways (e.g., Da. 8:26; Ez. 19:13).
Gk. Greek.
adj. adjective.
art. Articles.
 dropped (cf. ὁ νῦ ν παρὼ ν χρό νος , Soph. Trach., 174). In the NT we find the following
expressions: ὁ νῦ ν αἰώ ν (1 Tm. 6:17 etc. → 1114), ὁ νῦ ν καιρό ς (R. 3:26 etc., → 1114),
ἡ νῦ ν Ἰ ερουσαλή μ (Gl. 4:25, → 1114), οἱ νῦ ν οὐ ρανοί (2 Pt. 3:7, → 1114), ζωὴ ἡ νῦ ν
(1 Tm. 4:8, → 1120), ἡ πρὸ ς ῦ μᾶ ς νυνὶ ἀ πολογία (Ac. 22:1),20 ἄ χρι τῆ ς ἄ ρτι ὥ ρας
(1 C. 4:11).21

III. The Non-Temporal νῦ ν.

The chief meaning of νῦ ν (νυνί) is in the sphere of time (→ IV). But its use is not
restricted to this sphere. There is extension of meaning 1. by a weakening of the original
temporal sense, 2. by a changing of the temporal antithesis to past or future into a logical
antithesis.
1. νῦ ν as a Connecting Particle. The weakened meaning, which has lost temporal
significance (cf. the German nun, where the weak meaning is the main sense of the root and
other words have to be used for “now” as the temporal present) and is simply a particle, is
connected outside the NT esp. with the enclitic form νύ ν (νύ ),22 which is found in the NT
only in the expression ἄ γε νῦ ν23 (Jm. 4:13; 5:1). In the NT νῦ ν has this weak non-temporal
sense in some expressions which are specifically Lucan: καὶ νῦ ν (Ac. 20:22, 25; 22:16
[differing from Jn. 11:22, → 1110], very common in the LXX, → n. 24); καὶ τὰ νῦ ν (Ac.

Soph. Sophocles, of Athens (496–406 B.C.), the real poet of the Athens of Pericles, ed.
A. C. Pearson, 1924.
Trach. Trachiniae.
NT New Testament.
20 Cf. Plat. Theaet., 153e: ὁ ἄρτι λόγος, “the assertion just made.”

21 Cf. P. Lond., 121, 373: ἐν τῇ ἄρτι ὥρᾳ.

NT New Testament.
esp. especially.
22 Cf. Liddell-Scott, s.v. II; Pass., s.v., 2a.

NT New Testament.
23 In use elsewhere (Aristoph. Pax, 1056; Vesp., 381) this is the accent, as with

similar imperatives (ἴθι, φέρε, σπεῦδε). On the question whether we are to read νῦν
in R. 11:31 and 8:1 → n. 43 and n. 71. On νῦν and imp. → 1121.
NT New Testament.
24 καὶ τὰ νῦν (also, e.g., Test. L. 10:1) seems to be a form of direct speech in Ac., but
not the Gospels. The corresponding LXX formula (also Test. XII) καὶ νῦν (which falls
under the strongly Semitic use of καί) is mostly in direct speech (e.g., Mi. 4:9, 11;
Am. 7:16 etc.; Test. L. 14:1; 16:1 etc.), esp. in prayers (cf. Ac. 4:29 → 1122, esp. Da.,
e.g., 9:17, also Jon. 4:3; Is. 64:8) and admonitions (→ 1121, e.g., Ιερ. 49 [42]:19; Is.
2:10; Test. S. 3:1; L. 13:1 etc.), though also to introduce direct speech (e.g., Jl. 2:12;
Hag. 1:5) and in other ways (e.g., Da. 8:26; Ez. 19:13).
 4:29; 5:38; 20:32 [? → 1113]; 27:22),24 νῦ ν οὖ ν (Ac. 10:33: 15:10; 16:36; 23:15; often in
the LXX, e.g., 4 Βασ. 18:20), also in the expression V 4, p 1109 νῦ ν (νυνὶ) δέ (cf. 1 C.
14:625 and R. 7:17),26 also the simple νῦ ν (Lk. 11:39, perhaps also 1 Th. 3:8). Like their Heb.
equivalent ‫ועתה‬, these expressions hardly have any greater weight than the connecting
particles δέ, γέ, οὖ ν (cf. esp. Jos. 14:10 ff.).
2. νῦ ν as a Particle of Logical Antithesis. The same νῦ ν, however, can also have a very
heavy stress when used to oppose something factually valid to a hypothetical but erroneous
assumption or an incorrect idea. There is here a shift of meaning from “in the present” to “in
actuality.” Usually this logical νυνὶ (or νῦ ν) δέ 27 is preceded, then, by a hypothetical
conditional statement.28 An analogy may be found in the Aram. ‫וְ כַּדּון‬ . . . ‫ ִאּלּו‬, e.g., Tg. J. I

24 καὶ τὰ νῦν (also, e.g., Test. L. 10:1) seems to be a form of direct speech in Ac., but
not the Gospels. The corresponding LXX formula (also Test. XII) καὶ νῦν (which falls
under the strongly Semitic use of καί) is mostly in direct speech (e.g., Mi. 4:9, 11;
Am. 7:16 etc.; Test. L. 14:1; 16:1 etc.), esp. in prayers (cf. Ac. 4:29 → 1122, esp. Da.,
e.g., 9:17, also Jon. 4:3; Is. 64:8) and admonitions (→ 1121, e.g., Ιερ. 49 [42]:19; Is.
2:10; Test. S. 3:1; L. 13:1 etc.), though also to introduce direct speech (e.g., Jl. 2:12;
Hag. 1:5) and in other ways (e.g., Da. 8:26; Ez. 19:13).
25 νῦν δέ == quae cum ita sint, cf. H. Heinrici, Bachmann and J. Weiss, ad loc.

26 Ltzm. R., Althaus NT Deutsch, ad loc.: “but then”; Winer5 (1844), § 67, 7: “but now,”

“now that I have made this observation”; “thus” is also a correct rendering
(Albrecht). The exertions of Zahn, ad loc., to construct an antithesis here are
artificial, and the basic distinction (3, 355) of three successive states in Paul is quite
unconvincing.
Heb. Hebrew.
esp. especially.
27 Cf. Buttmann § 151, 26; Jn. prefers νῦν δέ, Pl. νυνὶ δέ (→ n. 2).

28 The places where this is not so are only apparent exceptions. In 1 C. 7:14 the

saying with ἐπεί, and in Lk. 19:42 the desire with εἰ, are unreal. In Jm. 4:15, where
the logical train of thought is far from smooth, we should supplement as follows: If
you were true Christians you would say “If God wills,” but instead of doing so (v. 16)
you boast in your ungodliness etc. Where there is no hypothetical statement one
may conclude that the use of νυνὶ δέ is not the logically adversative, e.g., R. 7:17 (→
n. 26) and 1 C. 13:13. Here the temporal sense is ruled out, since the καταργεῖσῖσθαι
which is the opp. of μένειν (vv. 8ff.) applies only to the fut., i.e., the other charismata
remain for the present. But a logical antithesis would have to be constructed (cf. J.
Weiss, ad loc.). Hence νυνὶ δέ is here very close to a simple ἀλλά, which for its part
can also be used after hypotheses when elsewhere one finds νυνὶ δέ, e.g., M. Ant., II,
11, cf. J. Weiss, 1 K., 355, n. 4: “But there remain,” in contrast to the things of earth
which are transitory and imperfect, “(now and to eternity) faith, hope, love.” To the
objection of J. Weiss that πίστις and ἐλπίς will be superfluous and will be discarded
at the parousia it may be answered that their function will indeed cease, but in the
NT their meaning includes the content of faith (e.g., Gl. 3:23 ff.) or hope (cf. esp. Col.
 on Gn. 3:22,29 but it is not found in the LXX, and since it is common in class. Gk. (e.g.,
Thuc., 4, 126; Aristot. An., II, 1, 8, p. 412b, 15)30 the NT use conforms to accepted Hell.
style.

The NT statements with νυνὶ δέ show particularly impressively what the NT

reckons, and would have reckoned, as decisive realities in the world. Almost always we
find that facts are set in opposition to a supposition when νῦ ν (νυνὶ) δέ is used, e.g., the
ungodly attitude of men, or the Jews (esp. in Jn., 8:40; 9:41; 15:22, 24; also Lk. 19:42;31
Jm. 4:16, → n. 28), or divine facts, whether in opposition to earthly human reality (Jn.

1:5, where the three again stand together), and this will remain to all eternity. Like
νυνὶ δέ here, the La. nunc is also used in the sense of sed, e.g., Cic. Divin., I, 29: Tac.
Ann., 2, 71. But the context would also permit of “hence,” cf. Herwerden, s.v.
Aram. Aramaic.
Tg. J. I Targum Pseudo-Jonathan.
29 Cf. J. Weiss on 1 C. 5:11.

class. classical.
Gk. Greek.
Thuc. Thucydides, of Athens (c. 460–396 B.C.), the classic historian of the Greeks,
who as a contemporary wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War, ed. C. Hude, 1898
ff.
Aristot. Aristotle, of Stageiros (c. 384–322 B.C.), with his teacher Plato the greatest of
the Greek philosophers and the founder of the peripatetic school, quoted in each
case from the comprehensive edition of the Academia Regia Borussica, 1831 ff.
An. De Anima.
30 Cf. on this the ed. of F. A. Trendelenburg3 (1877), 272, also the refs. in Pape, s.v.

νῦν. Related to this construction is the use of εἰ statements and νῦν δέ in the
comparisons of the philosophical diatribe, except that here the figure and the matter
are related, not the hypothetical and the real; cf. R. Bultmann, Der Stil d. paul. Predigt
u. d. kynisch-stoische Diatribe (1910), 42 with n. 7.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
esp. especially.
31 Here the preceding ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ itself makes it clear that νῦν cannot be

understood in the sense of a temporal antithesis.

28 The places where this is not so are only apparent exceptions. In 1 C. 7:14 the
saying with ἐπεί, and in Lk. 19:42 the desire with εἰ, are unreal. In Jm. 4:15, where
the logical train of thought is far from smooth, we should supplement as follows: If
you were true Christians you would say “If God wills,” but instead of doing so (v. 16)
you boast in your ungodliness etc. Where there is no hypothetical statement one
may conclude that the use of νυνὶ δέ is not the logically adversative, e.g., R. 7:17 (→
n. 26) and 1 C. 13:13. Here the temporal sense is ruled out, since the καταργεῖσῖσθαι
which is the opp. of μένειν (vv. 8ff.) applies only to the fut., i.e., the other charismata
remain for the present. But a logical antithesis would have to be constructed (cf. J.
18:36; 1 C. 7:14; Hb. 8:6; 11:16) or to erroneous thoughts (1 C. 12:18, 20; also 5:1132 and
esp. 15:20;33 Hb. 9:26). V 4, p 1110

3. καὶ νῦ ν, “nevertheless.” The use of καὶ νῦ ν in Jn. 11:22 is related. Here, too, a
hypothetical conditional clause is assumed. With νυνὶ δέ the condition would run: But now
he has died. Mary, however, says: καὶ νῦ ν οἶδα, “even so, I know.”34 To the conviction of
faith there thus corresponds, not the earthly reality, but the even greater certainty of a divine
reality.

IV. The Temporal νῦ ν.

1. νῦ ν as a Limit of Time. By nature νῦ ν is a limiting concept. It is the limit between

past and future which is sharp, but which cannot be grasped because it is always
fleeting.35 It is thus the boundary a. at the end and b. at the beginning of specific periods.

Weiss, ad loc.). Hence νυνὶ δέ is here very close to a simple ἀλλά, which for its part
can also be used after hypotheses when elsewhere one finds νυνὶ δέ, e.g., M. Ant., II,
11, cf. J. Weiss, 1 K., 355, n. 4: “But there remain,” in contrast to the things of earth
which are transitory and imperfect, “(now and to eternity) faith, hope, love.” To the
objection of J. Weiss that πίστις and ἐλπίς will be superfluous and will be discarded
at the parousia it may be answered that their function will indeed cease, but in the
NT their meaning includes the content of faith (e.g., Gl. 3:23 ff.) or hope (cf. esp. Col.
1:5, where the three again stand together), and this will remain to all eternity. Like
νυνὶ δέ here, the La. nunc is also used in the sense of sed, e.g., Cic. Divin., I, 29: Tac.
Ann., 2, 71. But the context would also permit of “hence,” cf. Herwerden, s.v.
32 Paul is here championing God’s claim that His community should be pure in

opposition to the probably malicious misunderstanding of the Corinthians.

esp. especially.
33 It is in some sense true that R. 3:21 is a striking par. to 1 C. 15:20, so J. Weiss, ad

loc.: “ ‘But now,’ God be praised, all this is purely academic dialectic, and in reality
‘Christ is risen.’ ” But the temporal factor predominates in the νυνὶ δέ of R. 3:21, cf.
esp. v. 26, → n. 70; → 1114 f.; this may also be perceived elsewhere, e.g., Hb. 8:6; cf.
also Aristid. Apol., 13, 7: … νυνὶ δὲ οἱ νόμοι καλοί εἰσι καὶ δίκαιοι, obviously an
allusion to R. 7:12. The preceding conditional clause contains a reigned assumption
which is reduced ad absurdam. Cf. also Chrys. Hom. in Jo. 20:2, MPG, 59, 126.
34 Formally similar is Xen. An., 7, 4, 24; 7, 7, 17; perhaps also Is. 40:28. Essentially

different is the νῦν οἴδαμεν in Jn. 16:30 (→ 1119).

35 This is the concept of the Now which Gk. philosophy developed and worked at

until exhausted. In part., Aristot. and the Stoic and Sceptical school influenced by
him undertook to examine the Now and its relation to time in general. But they
contributed little to the NT understanding, for the Gks., for all their reflection, were
entangled in formal and fruitless theorising. Aristot. deals with the problem of time
in his Physics, esp. Bk. IV. His treatment “abounds in difficulties, puzzles and
 a. At the End. In detail νῦ ν, often in stereotyped formulae like ἕως τοῦ νῦ ν (→ n.
14) etc., denotes the provisional boundary of the world (Mt. 24:21 and par.; R. 8:22),36 of

contradictions” (A. Torstrik, “Über d. Abhandlung d. Aristot. von d. Zeit. Phys. Δ 10

ff.,” Philol., 26 [1867], 523). τὸ νῦν is for him the indivisible boundary between two
stretches of time. It relates to infinitely divisible time as does a mathematical pt. to a
line (τὸ νῦν τὸ ἄτομον οἶον στιγμὴ γραμμῆς ἐστιν, VI, 3, p. 233b, 33). Hence it is no
part of time (οὐδὲ μόριον τὸ νῦν τοῦ χρόνου, IV, 11, p. 220a, 19), though there are
other statements to the contrary (cf., VI, 6, p. 237a, 5 f.: τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ ὁρίζον
καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ τῶν νῦν χρόνος). The limiting aspect of time is most impressively
worked out by him: τὸ νῦν τελευτὴ καὶ ἀρχὴ χρόνου, … τοῦ μὲν παρήκοντος
τελευτή, ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος (IV, 13, p. 222a, 33). In relation to the NT use it
should be emphasised that νῦν is always taken in the strict sense of the present
moment; νῦν in relation to a longer period finds no place in the sharp definition of
Aristot. Stoicism used the same categories as Aristot. With the infinite divisibility of
time it establishes the principle that in the strict sense no time is present (Chrysipp.
Fr., 509; II, 164, v. Arnim: οὐδεὶς ὅλως ἐνίσταται χρόνος), and that τὸ νῦν is not
strict time, i.e., a space of time, but a boundary (πέρας χρόνου, cf. Archedemus
Tarsensis Fr., 14; III, 263, v. Arnim) which on the one side is still the past and on the
other already the future (Fr., 517; II, 165, v. Arnim: … τοῦ ἐνεστηκότος χρόνου τὸ
μὲν μέλλον εἶναι, τὸ δὲ παρεληλυθός). On the other hand Stoicism also affirms that
only the present truly “is” (ὑπάρχει) because the past no longer “is” and the future
“is” not yet (cf. Fr., 509, 518; II, 164 f., v. Arnim; and on this Plut. Comm. Not., 41; II,
1081c–f). This thesis, then, rests on the equation of the terms “to be” and “to be
present”—which is in fact a confusion of concepts. The resultant sophisms
determine the Sceptics’ view of time, e.g., in Sext. Emp. εἰ ἔστι χρόνος (Math., X, 169–
247), where the present is said to be beyond our grasp because it is already the past
and still future (cf. esp. 200 ff.). This leads to complete scepticism in relation to time
generally.
The formalism of these views of time stands out most strongly against the
background of the reality of time, and esp. the Now, in the NT. Recognition of the
limiting aspect of the Now is the only feature of significance in relation to the NT.
But in the NT νῦν as a limit belongs to the relevant period, for in the strict sense it is
not the boundary but the given present, cf. Zn. R., 405, n. 14. On this whole question
cf. H. Eibl, “Das Problem d. Zeit bei den allen Denkern,” Archiv f. syst. Philosophie, 27
(1922), 67–87, 153–170; J. Steffens, Die Entwicklung des Zeitbegriffs in d. griech.
Philosophie bis Plato (Diss. Bonn, 1911); A. Torstrik, op. cit., 446–523; Delling, 12 ff.
For grammatical aspects cf. Debrunner, Indogerm. Forschungen, 48 (1930), 13 ff.
14 ἕως τοῦ νῦν is a formal expression like ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν (→ n. 12), chiefly in
manifestly stereotyped combinations with ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς κόσμου (κτίσεως) Mt. 24:21
(Mk. 13:19) or ἐκ παιδός (παιδιόθεν, νεότητος), Gn. 46:34 (47:3 cod. A; 2 Βασ. 19:8;
cf. Ez. 4:14: ἀπὸ γενέσεώς μου) etc. (Ex. 10:6 is esp. rich). Counterparts are ἀπʼ
ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν and ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν (καὶ) εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
par. parallel.
individual human life (e.g., Gn. 46:34; Ez. 4:14), of the age of grace (Nu. 14:19), but also
of the time of the hardening of Israel (cf. 2 C. 3:14) etc. (cf. also Phil. 1:5; 1 C. 4:11, 13).
Only once in the NT, so far as I can see, does ἄ ρτι seem to have this sense of a definitive
limit, at Jn. 16:24: ἕως ἄ ρτι οὐ κ ᾐ τή σατε οὐ δὲν τῷ ὀ νό ματί μου, in the future it
will be different—the continuation might be introduced by (ἀ πὸ τοῦ ) νῦ ν δέ—in the
future pray in my V 4, p 1111 name. In most cases, however, ἕως ἄ ρτι has lost most of
its character as a boundary, e.g., 1 C. 8:7; 1 Jn. 2:9: ἕως ἄ ρτι, “until now”; it has lost it
altogether at Jn. 5:17, for there is no temporal limit to God’s work: ἕως ἄ ρτι == ἀ εί.37
b. At the Beginning. Whereas the terminal boundary denoted by νῦ ν (and ἄ πτι) is
mostly fluid, since it moves back each moment as the Now advances, the character of the
term as a limit is much more strong and fundamental when it marks the beginning of
periods. In the Bible these are usually in some sense divinely appointed periods (→ B.
II), whether the age of salvation for the world, the new aeon (e.g., Mi. 4:7; Is. 9:6; 59:21;
cf. 18:7, → n. 12), or the time of salvation for the Gentiles, which also means the
rejection of the Jews (Ac. 18:6), or the time of personal blessing, e.g., in the case of Mary
(Lk. 1:48) or Peter (Lk. 5:10). In many ways the end of Jesus is a starting-point, namely,
the beginning of the time between the comings, which is a time of separation and distress
for the disciples and the world (Lk. 22:18 and par.; Mt. 23:39), the time of the Messianic
woes (Lk. 12:52), but which is already for Christ a period of lordship (Lk. 22:69 and
par.), for this νῦ ν is both the point of His deepest abasement and also the startingpoint of
His exaltation.
2. νῦ ν as a Period of Time. In the case of νῦ ν, however, the concept of a temporal
limit may be extended until it is a concept of temporal duration. The point becomes a
line. That is, νῦ ν in the NT may denote not merely a decisive point of time but also the
present second of eternity, e.g., in formal expressions like Phil. 1:20: ὡ ς πά ντοτε καὶ

36 Cf. Cl. Al. Prot., I, 7, 4: The serpent καταδουλοῦται καὶ αἰκίζεται εἰσέτι νῦν τοὺς
ἀνθρώπους.
NT New Testament.
37 Cf. Bultmann J., 183, n. 7 on Jn. 5:17; cf. μέχρι νῦν in Ign. Mg., 8, 1, also Qoh. 4:2:

ὅσοι αὐτοὶ ζῶσιν ἕως τοῦ νῦν.

12 Hck. Lk. calls it a rare term peculiar to Lk. (in the Synoptists); Mt. has instead ἀπʼ
ἄρτι (cf. Mt. 26:29 with Lk. 22:18; Mt. 26:64 with Lk. 22:69). Deissmann NB, 80 f.
thinks it was common formal speech, as shown by many stereotyped additions of
the LXX: καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος (e.g., ψ 120:8; 124:2, → n. 11), καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
(χρόνον) (Is. 9:6; 59:21; cf. 18:7; Mi. 4:7), εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον (1 Macc. 11:36; cf.
15:8), etc.
par. parallel.
par. parallel.
NT New Testament.
νῦ ν (cf. Plat. Conv., 212b: νῦ ν καὶ ἀ εί), 2 Pt. 3:18: καὶ νῦ ν καὶ εἰς ἡ μέραν
αἰῶ νος , Jd. 25: πρὸ παντὸ ς τοῦ αἰῶ νος καὶ νῦ ν καὶ εἰς πά ντας τοὺ ς
αἰῶ νας .38 This may stretch over a longer period, as in the adjectival use of νῦ ν (→
1108): ὁ νῦ ν αἰώ ν, ὁ νῦ ν καιρό ς . The most important and frequent use of νῦ ν in
this way is for the period between the comings. If on the one side, as indicated above,
νῦ ν is in some Synoptic verses the starting-point of this time, on the other it embraces in
its fulness the whole of the period, → 1114.
3. νῦ ν with Reference to Past and Future. In the light of this NT extension of νῦ ν to
longer periods of time, one may easily see why here too, as in classical Greek, it can
sometimes be used for past and future events.39 V 4, p 1112

a. νῦ ν and ἄ ρτι with the preterite40 mostly refer to what has just happened, esp. ἄ ρτι
(Mt. 9:18; Rev. 12:10) but also νῦ ν (Mt. 26:65; Jn. 21:10; cf. LXX, e.g., Jos. 5:14), or to
what is not too distant (Jn. 11:8; Ac. 7:52). But in many cases (cf. R. 11:30 f.; Jn. 8:52 as well
as Ac. 7:52) νῦ ν refers not merely to the once-for-all event in the preterite, but rather to the
process or state initiated by it.41
b. Analogically42 νῦ ν, in virtue of its strong relation to the present, can also refer to the
near43 future.44 The LXX makes considerable use of this future νῦ ν, e.g., to announce divine

Plat. Plato, of Athens (428/7–348/7 B.C.), ed. J. Burnet, 1905.

Conv. Convivium (eq2; Caesares).
38 Wnd. Kath. Br., ad loc.: For God the Now has an eternity both before it (Prv. 8:23; 1

C. 2:7) and behind it (Da. 2:20 etc.; Lk. 1:33; R. 1:25 etc.). Here αἰών means world
period, as Delling rightly pts. out (43) in relation to the similar expression in Sib., 8,
67, though this is Christian and is influenced by NT expressions, even if some of the
later parts of the LXX might also have served as models (I, 200, n. 10).
NT New Testament.
39 Eustath. Thessal. Comm. in Il., II, p. 164: τὸ νῦν κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς τοὺς τρεῖς

χρόνους δηλοῖ, τὸν ἐνεστῶτα, τὸν παρῳχημένον καὶ τὸν μέλλοντα, cf. Hesych., s.v.
40 Cf. Hom. Il., 3, 439: νῦν Μενέλαος ἐνίκησεν, Luc. Soloec., 2: οὐδὲ νῦν ἔγνως, 3: τὸ

γὰρ νῦν ῥηθέν, often also in Plat., e.g., Prot., 329c: ἃ νῦν δὴ ἐγὼ ἔλεγον. Acc. to
Timaeus, Λέξεις Πλατωνικαί, s.v., νῦν δή is chiefly used with the preterite (though
also the fut., → n. 44), but νῦν indicates the present. For further instances from
secular Gk. cf. Liddell-Scott, s.v.; Pr.-Bauer, s.v.; cf. also Bultmann J., 303, n. 8.
esp. especially.
41 Cf. Pr.-Bauer, s.v. on the aor. with νῦν.

42 On this analogy cf. the two renderings of Da. 11:2: LXX καὶ νῦν ἦλθον ὑποδεῖξαί

σοι, Θ καὶ νῦν … ἀναγγελῶ σοι (but → 1108 with n. 24), also Is. 51:3.
43 The difficult passage R. 11:31, already adduced as an example of νῦν with the

preterite, seems to be an exception: οὗτοι (sc. the Jews) νῦν ἠπείθησαν … ἵνα καὶ
αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐλεηθῶσιν. There are four possible solutions to the riddle of the second
νῦν: 1. with much of the tradition (also P46) to excise it on material grounds (Zn. R.,
 chastisements (e.g., Ex. 9:14 f. [ἐν τῷ νῦ ν καιρῷ == νῦ ν]; Jer. 7:13) and blessings (e.g.,
Is. 29:22). In the NT Jn. 12:31; R. 11:31 (→ n. 43), and perhaps also Phil. 1:20 (→ 1111) are
the only examples,45 though cf. ἄ ρτι in Mt. 26:53. These all express the certainty of faith of
Jesus and His apostle.

527 f, n. 76); but the attestation by ‫א‬. B and D* is too strong; 2. to take it as an
enclitic νύν; but this is unusual in Paul (→ 1108); 3. to understand it as the eternal
Now, the day of Christ, within which the conversion of the Jews will come (cf. Barth
R., ad loc.); but the NT knows no nunc aeternum, no dialectical Now, which would
finally negate biblical eschatology; 4. rightly understood, this νῦν is the typical NT
stage of transition (→ 1115), and since Paul in R. is still expecting an imminent
parousia (cf. 13:11) the blessing of the Jews is expected any moment now in the νῦν
of transition between the comings (cf. Ltzm. R., ad loc.).
44 Cf. Xenoph. Cyrop. 4, 1, 23: νῦν δὴ σὺ δηλώσεις, Plat. Leg., XII, 962d: νῦν δὴ

μαθησόμεθα ὅτι θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν, cf. also Resp., I, p. 353a, Soph., 221c; Luc. Soloec.,
8: ἴσως μὲν οὐδὲ νῦν δυνήσομαι. Although there innumerable examples of νῦν with
the fut. in class. lit., the Atticist Lucian, if the dial. Pseudosophista is authentic,
regards it as a solecism; cf. Soloec., 9: ὑβριστὴς ἐγὼ νῦν δὴ γενήσομαί σοι
διαλεγόμενοσ; ἔοικε δὲ σολοικίσαι τὸ “νῦν δὴ γενήσομαι,” σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἔγνως, cf. ibid.,
1: ἐπεὶ ὄφελον καὶ νῦν ἀκολουθῆσαι δυνήσῃ: on the supposed twofold solecism here
cf. on the one side Jn. 13:36 f. (νῦν and ἄρτι in the fut. sense) and on the other Gl.
5:12 (ὄφελον with fut.). The case is rather different with ἄρτι and fut. This is a later
and inferior use, cf. Phryn. Ecl., 12 and Rutherford, ad loc., but also Appian De Bello
Mithridatico, 69; Aesop Fabulae, 326, 7 Chambry [142 Schaefer, 81 de Furia; this
reading is not found in Halm, 386]: τεθνήξῃ ἄρτι. For further details cf. Pass., s.v.
ἄρτι); Plat. would in such cases say αὐτίκα, μάλα, αὖθις or the like instead of ἄρτι.
But in Hell. Gk. ἄρτι approximates so closely in meaning to νῦν (→ n. 8) that ἄρτι
with the fut. becomes linguistically tolerable. Cf. also Luc., Editio Bipontina, IX, 445
ff. 494 ff.; Timaeus Sophista, Plat. Lexicon ed. D. Ruhnken (1789), 186, n. 4.
NT New Testament.
43 The difficult passage R. 11:31, already adduced as an example of νῦν with the
preterite, seems to be an exception: οὗτοι (sc. the Jews) νῦν ἠπείθησαν … ἵνα καὶ
αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐλεηθῶσιν. There are four possible solutions to the riddle of the second
νῦν: 1. with much of the tradition (also P46) to excise it on material grounds (Zn. R.,
527 f, n. 76); but the attestation by ‫א‬. B and D* is too strong; 2. to take it as an
enclitic νύν; but this is unusual in Paul (→ 1108); 3. to understand it as the eternal
Now, the day of Christ, within which the conversion of the Jews will come (cf. Barth
R., ad loc.); but the NT knows no nunc aeternum, no dialectical Now, which would
finally negate biblical eschatology; 4. rightly understood, this νῦν is the typical NT
stage of transition (→ 1115), and since Paul in R. is still expecting an imminent
parousia (cf. 13:11) the blessing of the Jews is expected any moment now in the νῦν
of transition between the comings (cf. Ltzm. R., ad loc.).
45 The other texts adduced (Jn. 16:5; 17:13; Lk. 2:29) are not relevant here, → 1119;

1118.
 B. The NT Now.

I. νῦ ν as the Divine Hour.

νῦ ν (and even more precisely ἄ ρτι)46 denotes in the strict sense only a στιγμὴ
χρό νου (Lk. 4:5), but since such moments can become a καιρό ς , each of them is
intrinsically significant. From the apparently endless chain of hours, however, V 4, p 1113
some stand out because on them the accent of eternity especially falls with its demand
and gift. As God’s οἰκονομία chooses men and nations, so it chooses specific hours for
its purposes. In the OT, e.g., such an hour is that of Jos. 5:14, where God intervenes in
history through the leader of His host. In the NT we might refer to Lk. 5:10, the call of
the disciples, or Ac. 18:6, the commitment to Gentile missions, or Ac. 20:32, the
beginning of the post-apostolic period. In particular, mention should be made of the νῦ ν
of the exodus of Jesus, which is given distinctive form in Jn. (12:27;47 13:31;48 16:5;
17:13) and which Lk shows to be a significant turning-point with his peculiar formula (→
n. 12) ἀ πὸ τοῦ νῦ ν: 12:52; 22:18 and par. (cf. Mt. 23:39: [ἀ πʼ ἄ ρτι]); 22:69 and par.
In the last of these passages Jesus anticipates His glorification and even His coming again
in a paradoxical ἀ πὸ τοῦ νῦ ν, cf. the “transfiguration” in Jn. 12:27 ff.: Now even in
this state of humiliation, the exaltation begins.49

46 Cf. Mt. 26:53 (ἄρτι, “in a moment,” “at once”); 2 Cl., 17, 3 (ἄρτι, “now,” “for the
moment,” “so long as you are in the service of God”); here νῦν would not be suitable,
since it does not have sufficient temporal pregnancy.
OT Old Testament.
NT New Testament.
47 Cf. Bultmann J., ad loc. (327, n. 7).
48 Cf. Jn. 17:5. Acc. to Bultmann’s reconstruction this is the request which Jesus

declares to be fulfilled in the νῦν of 13:31.

12 Hck. Lk. calls it a rare term peculiar to Lk. (in the Synoptists); Mt. has instead ἀπʼ
ἄρτι (cf. Mt. 26:29 with Lk. 22:18; Mt. 26:64 with Lk. 22:69). Deissmann NB, 80 f.
thinks it was common formal speech, as shown by many stereotyped additions of
the LXX: καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος (e.g., ψ 120:8; 124:2, → n. 11), καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
(χρόνον) (Is. 9:6; 59:21; cf. 18:7; Mi. 4:7), εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον (1 Macc. 11:36; cf.
15:8), etc.
par. parallel.
par. parallel.
49 This is a shortening of perspective, as often in the Bible (cf. NT Deutsch, Schn. on

Mt. 26:64). It is not a conception which differs from expectation and proclamation
elsewhere, as though Jesus would go straight to His heavenly glory without
resurrection, cf. J. Weiss, Urchristentum (1917), 19 f.; on Lk. 16:25 → 1119, on 22:69
 II. νῦ ν as the Divinely Delineated Period.

1. The History of Christ as Present.

But there is something special about this hour of all hours, as about the whole history
of Christ. The distinctive emphasis of the Gospel is certainly on the fact that God once
(→ ἅ παξ, I, 381 ff.) gave a completely new turn to the history of mankind. But in NT
proclamation this new turn is not just past. It has present power; it has for Christians the
full weight of the νῦ ν, cf. R. 5:9; Col. 1:22; 2 Tm. 1:10; R. 16:26 (with the addition
found in Orig.),50 perhaps also Hb. 9:26 (→ 1109, cf. v. 24), and Cl. Al. Prot., I, 7, 4.
Analogous to this cosmic turn is that which takes place in the life of the individual, the
decision for or against Christ. This, too, has contemporary weight, cf. R. 11:30; 1 Pt.
2:25; R. 11:31.
The “remarkable overleaping of historical distance” which is to be seen here finds an
important OT parallel in the making contemporary of the initial election of Israel in Dt.51 and
esp. the prophets.52 God’s ancient people had the sense of being in this state of election and
salvation, and this sense is a prototype of NT awareness of living in the νῦ ν of the history of

→ supra; on Jn. 16:5 and 17:13 → 1119; only Lk. 23:43 causes difficulty, but cf. E.
Stauffer, Die Theologie d. NT (1941), 190.
NT New Testament.
Orig. Origen, of Alexandria (185–254 A.D.), pupil of Clement of Alexandria, and most
learned and fruitful representative of ancient Christian scholarship and culture, ed.
by different scholars in Die griech, christl. Schriftsteller der ersten 3 Jahrhunderte,
1899 ff.
50 μυστηρίου … φανερωθέντος … νῦν διὰ … τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν

(accepted by Zahn). The work as well as the person of Christ is always present. We
have a different conception, however, when Mithras is thought to be the living
present, as compared with his attendants, cantes and cantopates, the beginning and
the end, cf. A. Schütze, Mithras-Mysterien u. Urchristentum [1937], 31; this is a
personification or even an apotheosis of the Now.
v. verse.
Cl. Al. T. Flavius Clemens Alexandrinus, of Athens, but doing his main work in
Alexandria (150–215 A.D.), a leading representative of Christian culture, ed. O.
Stählin, 1905 ff.
Prot. Protrepticus.
OT Old Testament.
51 Weiser, 70 ff.; G. v. Rad, Das Gottesvolk im Dt. (1929), 60 ff.

esp. especially.
52 Weiser, 85 ff.; K. Galling, “Die Geschichte als Wort Gottes bei d. Propheten,” ThBl,

1929, 171; J. Hempel, AT u. Geschichte (1930), 29 ff.

NT New Testament.
 Christ, → 1114

Two important features of the NT νῦ ν are thus brought to light: 1. history is

experienced as the present; 2. νῦ ν is in the NT predominantly a period with eternal
significance. It is distinctive of this NT νῦ ν, however, that in it the future is also
experienced as the present. This leads us to the next point.
V 4, p 1114
2. The NT νῦ ν between the Comings.

a. Intimations. As in the case of the past seen from the standpoint of the present, so the
viewing of the future from this perspective finds parallels in the OT. The prophets did not
merely threaten judgment (e.g., Jer. 4:12) and promise salvation (Is. 33:10 f.). They also
declared judgment (Is. 3:8) and salvation (Is. 48:7) to be taking place already as νῦ ν.
Nevertheless. it is a general rule in the OT that every Now looks forward again to a new
Then. The νῦ ν of the OT is always awaiting the expected turning-point; that of the NT
coincides with it.53

Further intimations of the specific νῦ ν of the NT are to be seen in expressions

relating to the doctrine of the two aeons which borrow from Jewish usage and which
extend the period denoted by the νῦ ν to the whole length of this aeon: ὁ νῦ ν αἰώ ν,
“the present state of the world” in the Past. (2 Tm. 4:10; 1 Tm. 6:17; Tt. 2:12),54 ἡ νῦ ν
Ἰ ερουσαλή μ (Gl. 4:25), i.e., the community of the old covenant which is correlative to
the present aeon, and οἱ νῦ ν οὐ ρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ (2 Pt. 3:7), the form of the world
between the disasters of the flood and the destruction of the world by fire (v. 6f., 10, 12).
b. The Uniqueness of the NT νῦ ν. The expressions just quoted, especially that from 2

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
OT Old Testament.
OT Old Testament.
OT Old Testament.
NT New Testament.
53 Delling, 134 f.; cf. K. Galling, loc. cit.

NT New Testament.
54 Cf. also the vl. in Mt. 12:32: οὔτε ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. The

temporal sense is also weakened in the Vulgate, which in all three passages from the
Past. has hoc saeculum (elsewhere ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος or οὗτος ὁ αἰών Bl.-Debr.6, 306), i.e.,
“this world,” for saeculum follows αἰών in eliminating the temporal aspect.
v. verse.
NT New Testament.
Pt. 3, already give to νῦ ν the value of an interim period. This value, which is peculiar to
the NT, may be illustrated by a spatial image. The NT Now is like a range of mountains
between two countries. It belongs to both and looks out on both. In literal terms, it is a
transitional time between two times, namely, between the two comings, the first of which
marks the beginning of the new aeon and the second the (definitive) end of the old.
Hence this distinctive νῦ ν in which we still live belongs to both aeons.55
For those who live in this period the present is both a “still” (still in the old aeon) and
an “already” (already in the new), and each is characterised by antithesis, whether to the
new or to the old. This sense, which is typical of the NT Now, shows, of course, that the
twilight nature of the time to which the NT νῦ ν refers is not related to the word as such
but is experienced unequivocally either in the sense of the “still” or in that of the
“already.”
Paul is characterised by an expression which he almost always uses with reference to
the time between the comings:56 ὁ νῦ ν καιρό ς .57 This is for Israel the time of the
remnant of grace between its period as God’s people and its reacceptance at the end (R.
11:5). For Christians it is on the one hand the time of suffering between joy at the
presence of the Bridegoom and His reappearance V 4, p 1115 (R. 8:18), and on the other
the time of the unique revelation of God’s righteousness between the period of the
ἀ νοχὴ τοῦ θεοῦ and the final judgment (R. 3:26).58
Similarly, ὁ καιρὸ ς οὗ τος 59 in two Synoptic texts denotes this distinctive interim

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
55 Though cf., e.g., Rgg (Hb.2, 3, 250), who maintains that acc. to all NT teaching the

αἰὼν μέλλων begins only at the parousia. Delling, 101 rightly pts. out in answer that
the Now of the NT is an eschatological present, which is to be understood, not as a
dialectical paradox, but quite soberly as the time both of fulfilment and also of
promise. On the Now which lasts until the consummation of all things cf. also Cl. Al.
Prot., 84, 6.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
56 Only once (2 C. 8:14) is ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ (“now,” “for now”) used by Paul without

ref. to the time of Christ.

57 In a few LXX passages ὁ νῦν καιρός is a time of either blessing (Gn. 29:34; 30:20)

or punishment (Ex. 9:14). In the main the expression is not related in the OT to
Messianic conceptions or eschatology.
58 On the other hand ὁ νῦν καιρός in Barn., 4, 1 and 18, 2 obviously refers to this

wicked aeon in contrast to the new divine aeon (ὁ μέλλων sc. καιρός, 4, 1). It is still
used, or used again, in the sense of the pre-Christian, apocalyptic border between
the aeons. The sense that after Christ the present, though still a time of distress, is
already a time of salvation, may be seen to dwindle after the NT.
59 It may thus be said that neither ὁ καιρὸς οὗτος nor ὁ νῦν καιρός is used for “this

aeon” in the NT any more than is καιρὸς ἐρχόμενος (or μέλλων, cf. Barn., 4, 1) or
period. It is the Messianic period which the Jews have failed to see (Lk. 12:56). “This
time,” the unique significance of the νῦ ν, is seen only by him to whom the Messianic
secret of Jesus has been disclosed in faith. For the specific aspect of this νῦ ν is itself part
of the Messianic secret. For Christians, however, “this time” (Mk. 10:30) is a period of
suffering εἵνεκεν τῆ ς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ (Lk. 18:29 f.), as it is also already a time
of divine retribution.
The present (ὁ καιρὸ ς ὁ ἐνεστηκώ ς ) of Hb. (9:9) is also the time of Christ
between His first coming and the parousia (v. 28). Here already the whole stress is on the
contrast with the past, the time of παραβολαί and the δικαιώ ματα σαρκό ς . This
present is already καιρὸ ς διορθώ σεως , the time of the fulfilment of that which they
prefigured.

3. The NT Still.

The unique present of the NT takes on different colours according to the angle of
vision.
a. In the first instance it is part of the old aeon, the time of God’s work as Creator (Jn.
5:17 ὁ πατή ρ μου ἕως ἄ ρτι ἐργά ζεται), but also of the fallen creation, which
συστενά ζει καὶ συνωδίνει ἄ χρι τοῦ νῦ ν in the δουλεία τῆ ς φθορᾶ ς (R. 8:21 f.),
and in which it is possible that one ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄ ρτι (1 Jn. 2:9).
b. But the darkness of this aeon is not due merely to the nature of this aeon. It belongs
to the basic structure of the time of Christ between the comings. This is in view in Lk. 6
with its νῦ ν of unequal distribution (v. 21, 25) or in Jn. 16 with its corresponding νῦ ν of

ἐκεῖνος for “that aeon.” For these only expressions with αἰών are used (→ 1114, → I,
204 ff.; it seems to me that Sasse → I, 205 f. is wrong not to distinguish between (ὁ
αἰὼν οὗτος and ὁ καιρὸς οὗτος). The one exception at Lk. 18:30; Mk. 10:30 is only
an apparent exception. Here the time remaining before the end is contrasted with
the new aeon—hence the change from καιρός to αἰών—not the one aeon with the
other as in Mt. 12:32. Only outside the NT does the phrase ἐκεῖνος ὁ καιρός denote
the new aeon (cf. S. Bar. 74:2). In the NT, except at Eph. 2:12 where it denotes the
pre-Christian period, it serves as a connecting formula (Mt. 11:25; Ac. 12:1), the
original sense of contemporaneity (cf. ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ, e.g., Lk. 13:1) being
thereby weakened as in the case of the εὐθύς or εὐθέως of Mk. and Mt. Apart from
Mk. 10:30 and Lk. 12:56 ὁ καιρὸς οὗτος occurs only in R. 9:9 (in a quotation) with
reference to an individual promise.
v. verse.
NT New Testament.
v. verse.
the suffering of disciples and the rejoicing of the world (v. 22, 20).60 For this νῦ ν began
with Christ (Lk. 12:52: ἀ πὸ τοῦ νῦ ν there commences the tragic division of families,
22:36: νῦ ν is the time in which one must be ready for hardship and conflict), and it will
also end with Christ61 V 4, p 1116 (R. 8:18; 1 Pt. 1:6 f.: ὀ λίγον ἄ ρτι … λυπηθέντες
before the ἀ ποκά λυψις Ἰ ησοῦ Χριστοῦ , cf. also 2 C. 4:17W. text: τὸ παραυτίκα
πρό σκαιρον καὶ ἐλαφρὸ ν τῆ ς θλίψεως ).
In this time of Christ the world is still the world. It is not yet under Christ’s dominion
(Hb. 2:8) but in the power of the devil (Eph. 2:2). Nevertheless, the tension of the νῦ ν of
the world presses towards a τό τε of the victory of Christ (cf. the interplay of νῦ ν, ἤ δη,
ἄ ρτι, τό τε in 2 Th. 2:6–8). To this world, i.e., to the υἱοὶ τῆ ς ἀ πειθείας of Eph. 2:2,
the Jews also belong according to the NT (the Fourth Gospel), in development of the
prophetic νῦ ν, R. 11:31: νῦ ν ἠ πείθησαν. This is why they understand neither their
own Scriptures (2 C. 3:14) nor Christ Himself (cf. the νῦ ν of the error of Jn. 8:52, cf.
also Mt. 26:65). But Christians also share in this “still” of the world. The apostle himself
still lives in the flesh (Gl. 2:20), the sinful flesh. Christians, too, are ἄ ρτι μὴ ὁ ρῶ ντες
(1 Pt. 1:8). They know what others do not, but ἄ ρτι διʼ ἐσό πτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι …
ἄ ρτι ἐκ μέρους (1 C. 13:12), and more than all others they are still in suffering (Lk.
6:21; Jn. 16:22; 1 Pt. 1:6; 2 C. 4:17, → 1115), especially among them the apostles (1 C.
4:11, 13).
In all the distress of this “still” of the NT there is a special gift of grace. So long as
this time of Christ endures, there will always be the νῦ ν of the possibility of conversion
(Ac. 17:30), of awakening from sleep (R. 13:11). Thus in the νῦ ν of Ac. 17:30, as in the
ἤ δη of R. 13:11, there is an urgent “now at last” as well as a warning “still.”

4. The NT Already.

The same νῦ ν which is covered by darkness as “still” is even now shining brightly
into the future as “already.” σκοτία still has power in the world ἕως ἄ ρτι, so that many

v. verse.
60 Acc. to the eschatological schema of Jn. (cf. v. 32) the fut. χαρήσεται is already

present like the fut. λυπηθήσεσθε (cf. v. 20 with v. 22).

61 This period is thus bounded by the two most striking points in world history, the

beginning and end of the coming of the kingdom of God, Delling, 126.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
fall victim to it. But τὸ φῶ ς τὸ ἀ ληθινὸ ν ἤ δη φαίνει (1 Jn. 2:8 f.); now is the time
of salvation.
Thus the NT Now stands in unique tension with this aeon even though is still belongs
to it (→ 1115). There is a. a certain correspondence, and yet b. a sharp contrast between
what was and what is. Similarly in relation to the future the Already of the NT is c. an
anticipated ἔσχατον and yet also d. merely an indication of the greater thing which is to
be.
a. νῦ ν in Parallelism with the Past.
An essential feature of the NT understanding of the OT is Messianic typology. In this
connection the OT Now comes under the law of the correspondence of τύ πος and
ἀ ντίτυπος , e.g., in Gl. 4:29 (οὕ τως καὶ νῦ ν),62 Hb. 12:26 (τό τε … νῦ ν) and 1 Pt.
3:21 (baptism νῦ ν σῴ ζει as the ἀ ντίτυπον of the flood).
But already in this typological correspondence there is an element of antithesis, cf.
the two redemptions in 1 Pt. 3:20 f. and especially Hb. 12:26: τὴ ν γῆ ν ἐσά λευσεν
τό τε, νῦ ν δὲ … οὐ μό νον τὴ ν γῆ ν ἀ λλὰ καὶ τὸ ν οὐ ρανό ν.
b. νῦ ν in Antithesis to the Past.
In general, the Now stands exclusively in antithesis to what has been. Thus Paul is
marked by fondness for the antithesis τό τε/νῦ ν. This is not just imitation V 4, p 1117 of
a direct model,63 but an application of the category of antithesis which he has in common
with the diatribe. The NT Now itself is undoubtedly completely new as compared with
anything in the preceding or contemporary world. There the Now, if distinguished from
another time, was usually the evil present as compared with the good old days.64 In the
NT, however, the νῦ ν shines out with radiant splendour as compared with the τό τε.
For in this Now, in contrast to all previous ages, the whole salvation of the Gospel is
present.
(a) It is the Now of a new relation to God. The antitheses of 1 Pt. 2:10 are carefully

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
OT Old Testament.
OT Old Testament.
62 Cf. Oepke, ad loc. (89). In v. 25, however, the ref. is to the νῦν of the old aeon. →

1114.
63 Cf. on the one side NT Deutsch, Rendtorff on Col. 3:5 f., on the other R. Bultmann

in RGG2, III, 1681 f.

NT New Testament.
64 Cf. the OT intimations and analogies (Is. 1:21; Hos. 2:7[9]), also those outside the

Bible (Epict., III, 22, 69; Cl. Al. Prot., II, 22, 6; 37, 1 and 3).
NT New Testament.
constructed: Once you were οἱ οὐ κ ἠ λεημένοι, νῦ ν δὲ ἐλεηθέντες ,65 once οὐ
λαό ς ,66 νῦ ν δὲ λαὸ ς θεοῦ , cf. also the figure of the sheep and Shepherd in v. 25.67
Paul describes the contrast along similar lines, but he draws an even finer distinction by
attributing earlier ruin to men and present salvation to God, cf. R. 5:10 f.: We, who were
once God’s enemies, νῦ ν τὴ ν καταλλαγὴ ν ἐλά βομεν,68 cf. also Col. 1:21 f. and
especially R. 11:30 f.: ποτὲ ἠ πειθή σατε, νῦ ν δὲ ἠ λεή θητε (→ n. 65). This contrast
may be seen most clearly, of course, in the lives of Gentile Christians, Eph. 2:12,69 also
Gl. 4:8f.
(b) The Now of the new life. The Now of the new relation to God implies a radical
and factual transformation of Christian life. This is no longer lived in bondage to sin (R.
6:20, also 5:8) or under the yoke of the Law (R. 7:1, 6) but in righteousness (R. 3:21;70
5:9) and freedom (R. 6:22) under the renewing power of the Spirit (R. 7:6). Hence acting,

65 Cf. with this Ez. 39:25: νῦν ἀποστρέψω τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Ἰακὼβ καὶ ἐλεήσω τὸν
οἶκον Ἰσραήλ. The two passages represent typically the prophetic νῦν of the near
future on the one side and the NT νῦν of eschatological fulfilment on the other. The
aor. emphasises the historical fact which is already in the past (→ n. 67) but which
still controls the whole νῦν, → 1113.
66 The οὐ λαός denotes esp. the Gentiles, cf. the paraphrase in Eph. 2:12

(ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς
ἐπαγγελίας) and the expansion in 2 Cl., 2, 3 on the basis of a later situation: our
people, which was once οὐ λαός (R. 9:25) or οὐκ ἔθνος (R. 10:19), which was once
abandoned by God, is now believing and more numerous than the older people.
v. verse.
67 This νῦν, in spite of the ἀρτιγέννητος of v. 2, can hardly be taken in the sense of

“recently” (→ 1112), as though to emphasise that the recipients of the letter were
novices (cf. Wnd. Pt., ad loc.). The ref. is rather to the contrast between the once and
the now in the lives of Gentile Christians (ἐπεστράφητε is thus to be taken as med.
like πλανώμενοι; cf. Bl.-Debr. §308).
68 Cf. Hos. 8:10: νῦν εἰσδέξομαι αὐτούς, to which what was said in → n. 65 applies; cf.

also Bultmann Trad., 133; Glauben u. Verstehen (1933), 265.

65 Cf. with this Ez. 39:25: νῦν ἀποστρέψω τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Ἰακὼβ καὶ ἐλεήσω τὸν
οἶκον Ἰσραήλ. The two passages represent typically the prophetic νῦν of the near
future on the one side and the NT νῦν of eschatological fulfilment on the other. The
aor. emphasises the historical fact which is already in the past (→ n. 67) but which
still controls the whole νῦν, → 1113.
69 Cf. as an OT counterpart the promise of fellowship with God on the basis of the

people’s conversion with the prophetic νῦν (→ 1114), e.g., Ez. 43:9; Hos. 4:16.
70 It has already been pointed out in n. 33 that νυνὶ δέ can be understood as a logical

adversative after the analogy of 1 C. 15:20 (cf. J. Weiss on 1 C. 15:20, but also Zn. R.,
173 f., ad loc.), but that in view of the par. in v. 26 and the general context of
salvation history in R. one should not overlook the temporal aspect of νυνί. One
might say that in this νυνί we have both the logical and the temporal aspects
together (so also Kühl, ad loc.).
thinking and knowing κατὰ σά ρκα are excluded (cf. 2 C. 5:16). As a direct result of the
new relation to God (cf. Col. 1:21 f.), this means in practice, no longer ἔργα πονηρά ,
but νῦ ν ἅ γιοι. The wonder of this change, which is very impressively described in Eph.
2:1 ff., may be seen most vividly in Gentile Christians whose past included so many vices
(cf., V 4, p 1118 e.g., Col. 3:5 with v. 7). But fundamentally it is just as great a miracle in
Jewish Christians (cf. R. 6:21 f.; 8:1;71 Eph. 5:8). At this point in Paul the νῦ ν of
proclamation often becomes the νῦ ν of exhortation. That is to say, the new ethos is
frequently expressed by him in the form of νῦ ν with the imperative (→ III, 1).
(c) The Now of new knowledge. In the Gospel, and hence also in the Now which it
proclaims, new spiritual knowledge is inseparably related to the renewal of life. The
disclosure of the great transformation and its understanding are just as much a gift of the
Holy Spirit as the renewal of man himself.
Thus Paul’s antithesis between the past of ungodliness and the present of
sanctification finds an exact and closely related parallel in the antithesis of the past of
concealment and the present of disclosure.72 The mystery of God which was hidden from
eternity but is now revealed to the saints is a theme in Col. (1:26) and Eph. (3:5, 10) but
also in the final doxology of Romans (16:26). The content of this secret which is now
revealed can be described in just as many ways as the gift of Christ Himself, e.g., as the
miracle of Christ in us (Col. 1:27; cf. 2:2) or the miracle of the one Church (Eph.).
But the Once which is contrasted with the NT Now is not just that of concealment. It
is also the Once of incomplete revelation, as in the prophetic writings. Thus in later NT
writings a τό τε of prophetic intimation can be contrasted with the νῦ ν of apostolic
proclamation, as in the οὐ κ … ὡ ς νῦ ν of Eph. 3:5, or especially 1 Pt. 1:12, also Lk.
2:29: Now when the time of prophecy has passed and salvation is present,73 ἀ πολύ εις

v. verse.
71 In itself the νῦν here might suggest the time of earthly life as distinct from the last

judgment (Hofmann, ad loc.; cf. Zn. R., 374, n. 37); but numerous analogies show that
this νῦν also means “now in the time since Christ was manifested.” Here as
elsewhere one may see the value of systematic comparison. For this reason esp.
(though also on other grounds, → 1108) one cannot take this as an enclitic νύν (cf.
Zn. R., 375 with n. 39; ibid., 373 with n. 34 on the question of the authenticity of νῦν
here). Certainly it does not seem to me that to turn the sentence into a question
makes it any clearer.
72 Cf. R. Bultmann in RGG2, III, 1682; IV, 995 f.

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
73 Cf. Hck., ad loc.: here, then, νῦν is not used of the imminent fut., as Pr.-Bauer

thinks. Cf. also Cl. Al. Prot., I, 7, 6: … ὁ κύριος, προμηνύων ἀρχῆθεν προφητικῶς, νῦν
δὲ ἤδη καὶ ἐναργῶς εἰς σωτηρίαν παρακαλῶν. The relation between now and once
naturally seems different from the standpoint of prophecy and apocalyptic, cf. with
τὸ ν δοῦ λό ν σου, δέσποτα.
To God’s revelation there corresponds in this Now of Christ man’s knowledge. This
comes from the Revealer Himself, specifically as the One who went to death (Jn. 16:30;
17:7),74 though in such a way that there may also be terrible misunderstanding and
blindness (cf. Jn. 8:52; Mt. 26:65, → 1116). The decisive thing about true knowledge is
that it is no longer κατὰ σά ρκα but κατὰ πνεῦ μα (as we may legitimately add to the
thought of 2 C. 5:16).75 In other words, God Himself first comes to him who knows with
the radically transforming knowledge of love (Gl. 4:8 f., also Hos. 12:1). NT knowledge
is sustained by the mystery of this always present reciprocity, → I, 709, 700).
c. νῦ ν as an Anticipation of the Last Things.
In the light of these gifts of the NT Now it is understandable that the apostle should
believe that the long-expected day of the Lord had come in this νῦ ν: V 4, p 1119 ἰδοὺ
νῦ ν καιρὸ ς εὐ πό σδεκτος , ἰδοὺ νῦ ν ἡ μέρα σωτηρίας (2 C. 6:2). In so doing he
simply took up the proclamation of Jesus Himself, who had declared His → σή μερον to
be the ἐνιαυτὸ ς κυρίου δεκτό ς (Lk. 4:19, 21).76 In the NT νῦ ν there is in fact
expressed the certainty of eschatology already realised. The final tribulation has come (cf.
Jn. 16:32; 1 Jn. 4:3), the judgment (Jn. 12:31; cf. 3:19), but also the fulness of
eschatological salvation, life and immortality (2 Tm. 1:10),77 even the vision of God (Jn.
14:7).78
The distinctive form of this νῦ ν which anticipates the ἔσχατα is the νῦ ν of Jn. This
relates more broadly to the whole life of Jesus on earth (Jn. 4:23; 5:25), and more
narrowly to the final crisis in which the terms νῦ ν and ὥ ρα for the first time take on
their full significance. This is the hour of supreme affliction (12:27), but also herein it is
already that of glorification (17:5), of victory over the devil (12:31), and of going up to

1 Pt. 1:12; En. 1:2: οὐκ εἰς τὴν νῦν γενεὰν διενοούμην, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ πόρρω οὖσαν ἐγὼ
λαλῶ.
74 Cf. Bultmann on Jn. 17:7 (p. 381).
75 Cf. R. Bultmann, Der Stil d. paul. Predigt u. die kynisch-stoische Diatribe (1910), 84,

n. 2.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
76 It is no accident that Jesus selected this verse which spoke of the year of salvation

rather than one dealing with the day of the Lord, for it is an essential mark of the NT
νῦν that here eschatological events are no longer points of time. The day of salvation
lasts as long as Christ is there, and so, too, does judgment (Jn. 3:19). Thus
eschatological expectation of a series of “punctual” events is distinctively fulfilled by
the occurrence of all these events in the period of Christ, cf. Delling, 121 f., 127.
NT New Testament.
77 Cf. Dib. Past., ad loc.
78 On ἀπʼ ἄρτι → 1107.
the Father (16:5; 17:13).79 Already in this νῦ ν of the Fourth Gospel, and then especially
in the vision of Rev. (12:10f.), there is awareness of being in transition, of being almost
completely absorbed into the realisation that in the Now of Christ the end, the
consummation, is present.80 But the Johannine νῦ ν, as this art. makes clear, is not
unique. It is simply an enhanced form of the general view of primitive Christianity.
A kind of anticipation, though in the form of a non-eschatological changing of the
contrast between Once and Now into the antithesis between life in heaven and hell, may be
seen in the singular νῦ ν of Lk. 16:25. Here the temporal and spatial antithesis is for all
practical purposes one and the same, cf. the πρίν and νῦ ν of Hom. Od., 11, 484 f.81 But
related in this way to the provisional state in sheol, where the definitive decision has still to
be made between glory and Gehenna, even this νῦ ν of a parable which borrows pre-Christian
imagery still denotes a transitional period (→ 1111, 1114), though this is not specifically NT
in character. Closely related is the thought of Rev. 14:13: “From now on (or now, → 1107),
saith the Spirit, they (will) rest from their labours”; this is how we are to take the ἀ πʼ ἄ ρτι
without the ναί (with P47 ‫)*א‬, (ἀ πʼ) ἄ ρτι being the Now inaugurated by Christ, which is
also a time of affliction, → 1115 f.82 V 4, p 1120

d. νῦ ν as a Proleptic First Stage of the Last Things.

Though there seems to be in Jn. a full anticipation of the last things, the NT still
speaks of eschatology beyond this Now, of the end which will consummate all things, so

79 Cf. R. Bultmann J., 139, n. 7; 327, n. 7; 516 f.; 328; 377; 401 f.; esp. 324 ff.:
“Everywhere the same Now is meant” (324, n. 5), probably also in the case of the
symbolical ἕως ἄρτι of 2:10, for only now in Christ is the good or true wine of God
present (ibid., 85, n. 1; also W. Oehler, Zum Missionscharakter des J. Ev. [1941], 52).
80 Cf. R. Bultmann, Glauben u. Verstehen (1933), 134 ff.; G. Stählin, ZNW, 33 (1934),

225 ff., esp. 234 f.

art. Articles.
Hom. Homer, of Chios (?), the classical Greek epic poet, around whose name were
grouped the older epics of the Ionians in the 9th and 8th centuries B.C., ed. G. Monro
and T. W. Allen, 1908 ff.
Od. Odyssey.
81 This use of νῦν, not current elsewhere in the NT, seems to support the conjecture

that Lk. 16:19 ff. is from some other source, cf. the comm. and H. Gressmann, “Vom
reichen Mann u. armen Lazarus,” AAB, 1918, No. 7, esp. 46 ff.; Bultmann Trad., 212 f.
But in the light of the world of apocalyptic it is quite conceivable even on the lips of
Jesus, cf. E. Stauffer, Die Theologie d. NT (1941), 190.
NT New Testament.
82 Cf. Behm Apk (NT Deutsch), 85: The Now denotes the beginning of the bloody

conflict between Rome and Christianity, though cf. A. Fridrichsen [in a letter to A.
Debrunner]: “Assuredly (ἀπαρτί), saith the Spirit.”
NT New Testament.
that in the Now there is both possession and hope, R. 5:8 f.: δικαιωθέντες νῦ ν …
σωθησό μεθα in the last judgment; 1 Jn. 3:2: νῦ ν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν … (then)
ὅ μοιοι αὐ τῷ ἐσό μεθα, 1 Tm. 4:8: ζωὴ ἡ νῦ ν καὶ ἡ μέλλουσα i.e., (divine) life in
which we already participate in the period of Christ, and to which we look forward in
fulness then.83 This thought of twofold fulfilment runs through the whole of the NT (cf.,
e.g., Eph, 1:13f.).

Intimations of this eschatological νῦ ν of the NT may again be found in the LXX. Thus in
Mi. 4:11 the future last judgment on Jerusalem is portrayed as present, as is also
eschatological salvation in Is. 48:7, → 1114. But the present tense here is simply a more
intensive form of prophecy.

5. Stages of the NT Now.

In the course of the day of salvation embraced by the NT νῦ ν one hour follows
another, and each can bear the full weight of the νῦ ν in comparison with that which
precedes or follows. Thus the Jesus of Jn. has a constant sense of the fleeting hours. He is
aware of the νῦ ν of work, especially of preparing the disciples for the great tribulation
(ct. Jn. 13:19, → 1107; 14:29; also 16:1, 4; this tribulation is at the doors in the νῦ ν of
the hour of Lk. 22:36). For the disciples this νῦ ν is still a period of incompleteness in
discipleship (Jn. 13:36 f.), in prayer (16:24) in understanding (16:12, cf. v. 25). This
defective understanding may be seen in their ἴδε νῦ ν (v. 29), in which they already
believe they have advanced a stage further in the progress of the hours.
Paul, too, is conscious of a moving on of the eschatological clock from νῦ ν to νῦ ν
(R. 13:11 f.; 2 Th. 2:5 ff.; also 1 C. 3:2: Now when you have moved a stage further in the
time of the πνεῦ μα you are still σαρκικοί). Nor is this any less true of Jn., who sees the
coming of the last hour in the appearance of antichrist (1 Jn. 2:18; 4:3).

6. Once and Now in the Life of the Individual Christian.

If Paul’s own experience has basic significance in the fashioning of his theology in
general, the fact of Gl. 1:23 (νῦ ν-ποτέ) particularly affects his conception of the Once

83 So Hofman, Dib. Past., though cf. Wbg. Past., ad loc.

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
v. verse.
v. verse.
and Now of salvation history. Many such antitheses are just as much personal confessions
as they are theological statements on the historical economy of God, e.g., 2 C. 5:16;84 R.
5:9;85 7:6 etc. But the objective validity is more important to a man like Paul than the
personal aspect even in what seem to be the very personal τό τε-νῦ ν passages in R. 6:21
f.; 11:30f. (cf. also 1 Pt. 2:25). The fundamental significance of the τό τε-νῦ ν relation is
finely brought out in what we must assume to be the pun of Phlm. 11: εὔ χρηστοσ-
Χριστό ς ,86 ct. also Lk. 2:29 V 4, p 1121 (→ 1118); Ac. 13:31 vl.87 (also Epict., IV, 4, 7:88
τό τε καὶ ἐγὼ ἡ μά ρτανον· νῦ ν δʼ οὐ κέτι, χά ρις τῷ θεῷ , Tat. Or. Graec., 42).
Lk. 1:48 may also be mentioned in this connection, for the whole community speaks in
the ancient canticle of Mary: ἀ πὸ τοῦ νῦ ν μακαριοῦ σίν με πᾶ σαι αἱ γενεαί.

III. νῦ ν with the Imperative.

1. νῦ ν in NT Exhortation.

The great Already of the NT includes renewal of life, → 1117. But since Pauline
ethics is constructed on the principle: “Be what you are,” in this sphere of the NT Now a

84 Ct. Ltzm. R., ad loc., who takes the νῦν to be the moment of Paul’s conversion, This
νῦν, however, includes the present tense of the great change effected in Christ (→
1118) as well as the beginning of spiritual life in Paul.
85 Ct. Zn. R., 258, n. 22, who seeks to relate the section only to personal experience.
86 Cf. Loh. Phlm., ad loc. (p. 186, n. 3) et. al.

vl. varia lectio.

87 Ac. 12:11, however, refers to individual direction in the life of Peter. Conversely

the νῦν of 1 C. 16:12 is a point of time on which there is no divine stress and for
which there is no θέλημα → III, 59, n. 24. Contrasted with it is the expected time of
εὐκαιρεῖν.
Epict. Epictetus, Phrygian slave of Hierapolis in the days of Nero (50–130 A.D.), freed
at the imperial palace, Stoic of the younger school and preacher of ethics tinged with
religion. From his lectures his pupil Arrian collected 8 books of diatribes which have
been preserved, ed. H. Schenkl2, 1916.
88 Cf. on this A. Bonhöffer, Epiktet u. des NT (1911), 369 ff.; R. Bultmann, ZNW, 13

(1912), 184; T. Zahn, Der Stoiker Epiktet u. sein Verhältnis zum Christentum2 (1895);
O. Kuss, Röm 5:12–21 (Diss. Breslau, 1930), 28 ff.; also → I, 301.
Tat. Tatian, of Syria, won to Christianity in Rome by Justin, author c. 152 of an
address to the Greeks in which he sharply attacks Greek culture, ed. E. Goodspeed in
Die Ältesten Apologeten, 1914.
Or. Graec. Oratio ad Graecos.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
νῦ ν with the imperative corresponds to that with the indicative,

There are many instances of this use, too, prior to the NT.
In class. and Hell. Gk. νῦ ν or νύ ν with the imp. often serves to show how urgent a
command or requirement is, → 1108 with n. 23. In such cases it should be rendered “but,”
“for,” “so” etc.89 In the NT only ἄ γε νῦ ν is used in this way (Jm. 4:13; 5:1), though cf.
ἄ φες ἄ ρτι (Mt. 3:15). Equally unemphatic, as shown earlier (→ 1108 with n. 24), is νῦ ν or
ρὰ νῦ ν when used with καὶ or οὖ ν before an imp. or related expression (cf. Ac. 10:5; 2 Jn.
5—Ac. 5:38: 27:22—Ac. 16:36: 23:15). In other cases in the NT, however, νῦ ν has some
temporal significance when used after an imp. (Mt. 27:42 f.; Jn. 2:8 etc.) or even before it
(e.g., Col. 3:8). There is precedent for this, e.g., in the LXX: “Yet now hear when God
speaks, O Israel” (Is. 44:1; cf. Am. 7:16). “Now when God commands the prophet he should
be obeyed at once” (Jer. 18:11). “Now, in the judgment of God, hide yourselves” (Is. 2:10).
“Now, when God gives opportunity therefor, repent” (Ιερ. 33[26]:13; Ez. 43:9 with the
promise of grace; cf. Jos. 22:4 etc.).

In the NT we find the νῦ ν of exhortation (a) in basic missionary proclamation. But

precedence is here given, not to the imperative of admonition, but to the indicative of the
word of forgiveness on which it rests; cf. Jn. 8:11 and Ac. 17:30 f.: in the one case οὐ
κατακρίνω, in the other ὑ περιδεῖν, is the presupposition of the exhortation. In Ac. 17
the νῦ ν stands significantly between the past of χρό νοι τῆ ς ἀ γνοίας and the future of

NT New Testament.
class. classical.
Gk. Greek.
1108 with n. 23 In use elsewhere (Aristoph. Pax, 1056; Vesp., 381) this is the accent,
as with similar imperatives (ἴθι, φέρε, σπεῦδε). On the question whether we are to
read νῦν in R. 11:31 and 8:1 → n. 43 and n. 71. On νῦν and imp. → 1121.
89 Pass., s.v.; cf. Bl.-Debr. §474, 3; passages in Pass. and Liddell-Scott, s.v. In the NT

νῦν does not occur with the exhortative (e,g., Luc. Soloec., 10, 12).
NT New Testament.
1108 with n. 24 καὶ τὰ νῦν (also, e.g., Test. L. 10:1) seems to be a form of direct
speech in Ac., but not the Gospels. The corresponding LXX formula (also Test. XII)
καὶ νῦν (which falls under the strongly Semitic use of καί) is mostly in direct speech
(e.g., Mi. 4:9, 11; Am. 7:16 etc.; Test. L. 14:1; 16:1 etc.), esp. in prayers (cf. Ac. 4:29 →
1122, esp. Da., e.g., 9:17, also Jon. 4:3; Is. 64:8) and admonitions (→ 1121, e.g., Ιερ. 49
[42]:19; Is. 2:10; Test. S. 3:1; L. 13:1 etc.), though also to introduce direct speech
(e.g., Jl. 2:12; Hag. 1:5) and in other ways (e.g., Da. 8:26; Ez. 19:13).
imp. imperative.
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NT New Testament.
the day of judgment. It is the decisive interim of grace between the two.90
We also find this νῦ ν (b) in exhortation addressed to the community. From the Now
of liberation from the Law and sin follows (ὥ στε) the necessity of δουλεύ ειν ἐν
καινό τητι πνεύ ματος (R. 7:6) and the admonition: Now is the time to put an end to
the pagan manner of life (Col. 3:8); now serve righteousness (R. 6:19).91 The admonition
which Jn. develops with particular seriousness for the νῦ ν of the Christian community is
that now, in the hour of special danger, just before the parousia, we should abide in Him
(1 Jn. 2:28).92
V 4, p 1122
2. νῦ ν in NT Prayer.

In many an hour of eternal seriousness there rings out in the prayer of the community
an urgent Now to God. This is true already under the old covenant (cf. LXX Jon. 4:3; Is.
37:20 B; 64:8), and we find it again under the new (Ac. 4:29; 20:32). It occurs in the
greatest prayer in the NT, that of Jesus in Jn. 17 (v. 5). As in every hour of His Now, so
in the last hour Jesus knows what must come, and in faith (13:31) and prayer He accepts
this most difficult hour for what it is in the sight of God, the ὥ ρα of δοξασθῆ ναι.93

IV. The Significance of the NT View of the Now.

The NT understanding of the Now, like the whole world of NT history and thought,
presents a unique picture. The man of pagan antiquity suffers under the ineluctable and
ultimately meaningless transitoriness of time. Hence the motto carpe diem (Hor. Od., I,
11, 8). The Jew has a sense of the teleological movement of time, but within it each
period has only the significance of what becomes at once an indifferent preparation for

90 M. Dibelius, “Pls. auf dem Areopag,” SAH (1938/39), 34: In these two verses past,
present and future seem to be compressed together; cf. 40 f.
91 In this saying Pl. constructs a distinctive rhetorical form. Past and present are

antithetically contrasted and associated.

92 This can hardly be the common, colourless καὶ νῦν → 1108. There is in the νῦν a

new thought as compared with the μένετε ἐν αὐτῷ which immediately precedes in
v. 27.
NT New Testament.
v. verse.
93 Cf. R. Bultmann J., 374 ff. The same νῦν of prayer (concretely to the demons of the

curse), which seeks an answer at the very moment of utterance, may be found in
Soph. Oed. Col., 1376.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
Hor. Horajot, Mishnah-, Tosefta-, Talmud tractate Decisions (erroneous) (Strack,
Einl., 54).
Od. Odyssey.
what is to come. In the NT, however, the whole emphasis falls precisely on the present
which the Greeks, especially Aristotle, regarded as beyond our grasp and the Jews as
merely an irrelevant point of transition.94 For all the essentials which the NT has to
proclaim are basically brought together in the present. The νῦ ν of the NT is wholly
determined and filled by the Christ event. From a purely historical standpoint this
embraces the life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus. That is to say, it is a past event
which is narrated in the aorist. But as God’s act, as the breaking of eternity into time, this
event is also present. For “all time after Christ is the time of Christ.”95 In the NT as
nowhere else in the world of religion everything depends on history. But in the Gospel
history is made contemporaneous in a unique way. It belongs to the Now not merely as
concept but as fact, though only faith, of course, can grasp this. This is the reason why
the present as well as the aorist carries special emphasis in NT proclamation, cf., e.g., the
participles σῳ ζό μενοι/ἀ πολλύ μενοι (1 C. 1:18; 2 C. 2:15). These participles show
that Christian hope, the true mark of men of God as compared with pagans, ἄ θεοι ἐν
τῷ κό σμῳ , ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες (Eph. 2:12), is fulfilled in the νῦ ν of the NT as well
as directed as a living hope to the future. In this νῦ ν the past of Christ and the future of
Christ are both comprehended as the present of Christ.
The NT νῦ ν is the whole period between the comings, but for individual disciples it
is continually compressed into hours of decision. They have to grasp this νῦ ν in faith, to
set themselves in it in prayer, and to work it out in action. In the NT νῦ ν proclamation
does not relate only to certain places. All life rests upon it. The V 4, p 1123 aim of all NT
proclamation is both to evoke this νῦ ν as a fact (cf. 2 C. 6:2) and to help men to live in

NT New Testament.
94 Even T. Chag., 2, 7 does not go beyond this when it says that man should look

neither to what was nor to what will be, but, as we may conclude, only to what is.
The point here is that common sense will keep to the present without bewailing the
past or worrying about the future. This does not confer on the present, however, the
special significance which it is given in the NT.
NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
95 So Delling, 141, who presents many similar ideas to those found in this article, but

who diverges from the present interpretation in his general view that time is
fulfilled and overcome, so that the NT νῦν is de-eschatologised; I hope to expound
and demonstrate this more fully in an essay on the present in NT thinking.
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NT New Testament.
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terms of this νῦ ν as the divinely given → καιρό ς (R. 6:19).
The NT thus binds faith with equal strength to past, present and future. The
uniqueness of the Gospel story is significantly expressed in the fact that what has been
accomplished once and for all (→ ἅ παξ, I, 381 ff.) continues to work to-day in the νῦ ν
of the time of Christ. But as the τό τε of the past stands always behind the NT νῦ ν, so
the τό τε of the future stands always before it. “He who has no hope does not stand in the
Christian faith—but he who does not stand in the present of Christ has no ground for
hope.”96 Only when the reality in which we now believe becomes sight and is thus
consummated will the τό τε of 1 C. 13:12 become a new νῦ ν, a true97 nunc aeternum.1

NT New Testament.
NT New Testament.
96 Delling, 141.
97 Cf. → n. 43 (A, IV, 3).
1 Gustav Stählin, “νῦν (ἄρτι)”, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, e Gerhard

Friedrich, Theological dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1964–), 1106–1123.