1 Cor. 1:10 - Perfect Passive Participle - ?

Mark Wilson emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 13 14:06:06 EST 2001


Pastor:

You wrote:

-------
>I'm working through 1 Corinthians & hit a snag in 1:10.  The word is
>KATERTISMENOI.  This is a perfect Pass. ptc, that I thought - in context -
>meant ''have already been made complete."  I then checked it w/ Wallace
>(page 418 - where he discusses this word in another context,  & 626).  I
>recognize that sometimes the perfect can be used in a more present sense
>(which is how the NIV & NASB have used it), but would it not be better to
>have it translated as I have here?
-------

I think what you have is a periphrastic construct, with the Pres. Subj. of 
EIMI with this Perf. Ptc. I think of this as EIMI + PTC, and since it is a 
Present form of EIMI with a Perfect Ptc, it would approximate a Perfect 
finite tense.

And, I think the Perfect tense is generally to be understood as emphasizing 
the PRESENT CONDITION of a situation. Here, perhaps something like "stand 
united" (see below; I do not see this as Passive here).

I do want to make a brief comment on a page you quoted from GGBB (418). 
Wallaces makes this statement regarding Perfect Middle-Passive forms:

"in the perfect tense, the middle-passive form is always to be taken as 
passive in the NT (Luke 6:40, 1 Cor. 1:10, Heb. 11:3)."

Now, he makes this statement as he is discussing Rom. 9:22. This may seem a 
bit outlandish, but I think Wallace's statement is almost exactly the 
opposite. The general rule would be to take the perfect middle-passive form 
as MIDDLE.

I think very clearly in this verse, the middle sense is apparent. One's 
theology will determine how to interpret the controversial Rom. 9:22, but I 
think it again to be MIDDLE. Same with Luke 6:40. The Heb. 11:3 is a 
PASSIVE, but it is also an Infinitive. Of the 4 middle-passives, 3 to me are 
MIDDLE. (I realize that Wallace's statement is theologically based, just as 
my conclusions are, but it seems odd that a scholar of his reputation would 
not put an asterisk by such a comment.)

So, sorry for this digression, but I noted this Perfect MIDDLE-PASSIVE 
observation in a much earlier post and really thought it was insightful.

My thoughts,

Mark Wilson

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