[B-Greek] Negated Perfect tense verbs & verbals
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Dec 11 12:51:52 EST 2003
At 11:32 AM -0500 12/11/03, A. Philip Brown II wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I'm working with an exegetical question that turns on the significance of a
>negated perfect tense verb.
>The perfect tense signifies an event that, completed in the past, has
>results existing in the present time (w/ ref. to the specified perspective).
>Contextual, lexical, and grammatical factors will nuance that basic aspect,
>giving emphasis to the results or the completed action, among other
>aktionsarts.
>
>The question put to me was this: Can the negation of a perfect tense
>verb(al) signify the negation of the continuing results, without necessarily
>signifying a denial/negation of the completed action? Theoretically it seems
>possible to me, but I can't think of any LXX/NT examples.
I honestly don't see how this could be possible: the negation will
simultaneously cancel BOTH the event brought to fulfillment or completion
in the past AND any conceivable ongoing consequences of completion.
>
>I would appreciate any definitive examples or grammatical commentary the
>list members could give me on this construction.
Here's one that's a little bit odd:
Lk 5:32 OUK ELHLUQA KALESAI DIKAIOUS ALL hAMARTWLOUS EIS METANOIAN.
The Marcan parallel, upon which I happen to think Luke's version is based,
has the aorist: OUK HLQON KALESAI DIKAIOUS ALLA hAMARTWLOUS.
What's odd is that ELHLUQA is here negated, although Jesus has indeed come;
logically the negation cancels KALESAI DIKAIOUS. This may be an instance of
a peculiarity of Greek idiom, the so-called "OU adherescent": cf. Smyth
§§2691-2695.
Certainly Jesus is not denying that he has come but that his intention in
coming was to summon "righteous persons." And although one might
conceivably assert that in OUK ELHLUQA KALESAI DIKAIOUS the OUK negates the
whole clause, the larger context shows that this cannot be the case; rather
the logical antithesis must be OU ... KALESAI DIKAIOUS ALL(A KALESAI)
hAMARTWLOUS--or perhaps one would to say that all that is compressed for
what is implicitly OUK ELHLUQA KALESAI DIKAIOUS ALL' ELHLUQA KALESAI
hAMARTWLOUS EIS METANOIAN.
In any case it is not Jesus' COMING that is denied but rather the PURPOSE
of Jesus' coming.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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