It is not a matter of who was a neighbor (as if the focus were on the person in need) but who has become a neighbor by helping someone in need. Most have “proved to be a neighbor” (NASB, ESV, CSB) the NET has “became a neighbor” and includes this note: “Do not think about who they are, but who you are.” You can see most of the other translations recognizing there is some meaning in the perfect. It isn’t a matter of who was a neighbor (as if the focus were on the person in need), but an issue of what you have become to those in need. Given these facts, an aorist would not have communicated properly. Thirdly, since the perfect indicates a completed action, it changes the time frame from who currently is my neighbor to the past in which I have become a neighbor. The second clue is the verb used, γίνομαι, which generally indicates coming into a new state, “to become.”

The neighbor is the person who you are able to help, regardless of racial and geographical restraints. The issue is not who am I responsible to help.

The first clue is in Jesus’ actual answer. The problem with this translation is that γεγονέναι is a perfect, not an aorist. Jesus tells the parable and concludes, “Which of these three do you think was (γεγονέναι) a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (10:36, NIV, also NLT). “For whom do I have to be responsible?” (Correct grammar can sound so odd at times, can’t it?) I would guess the lawyer was thinking in ethnic and geographical terms. It was a limiting question, designed to restrict his responsibility to a smaller group. The lawyer’s question is, “Who is (ἐστίν) my neighbor”? (Luke 10:29). Take the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (or as I liked to say when teaching at Azusa Pacific University, the “Good Biola Student”). Even if it is subtle, there is always a reason. It is accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church.Changes in tenses are important to note.

Second Esdras (4 Esdras in Latin Vulgate) is not accepted as canonical by the Catholic Church, although it is included in the Vulgate with First Esdras. However, it is accepted by the Greek Orthodox Church and Russian Orthodox Church. The Catholic Bible included it in an appendix. It was rejected by the Council of Trent on April 8, 1546. First Esdras is not accepted as canonical by the Catholic Church.

Greek interlinear bible luke 10