Wallace argues, however, that
linguistically speaking, the historical present typically is associated with
action verbs, not with verbs of being. But that is essentially the opposite of
what we find in John 5:1-8. In this passage, John uses the aorist to report
that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem (5:1); switches to the present to tell us about
the pool called Bethesda, using the verb eimi (to be); then uses the
aorist and imperfect tense-forms as he discusses what Jesus did at the pool
(5:3-8). Moreover, Wallace observes that he could not find a single instance of eimi
being used as a historical present within the New Testament (Wallace, “John
5,2,” 203-4). In response to Wallace, Craig Blomberg writes, “It is difficult
to know how much significance to attach to this observation. After all, most
historical presents occur in narrative where a specific verb of speech or
action is highlighted” (Blomberg, Reliability of John’s Gospel, 41).
Blomberg’s observation, however, seems to strengthen rather than weaken
Wallace’s argument that historical presents are not typical of verbs of being
but rather of verbs of action. Considering the above, a historical present is
unlikely. As such, it is probable that John 5:2 means to reference conditions
as they stood at the time of composition. (Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the
Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition [Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Baker Academic, 2022], 99-100)
