[B-Greek] Perfect Passive Participles: Is the past action a process or punctiliar event? Eph. 2:8
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Dec 23 16:43:56 EST 2005
On Friday, December 23, 2005, at 01:12PM, Laurence Schell <laurenceschell at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>In Ephesians 2:8, "are saved," I recall is a perfect passive, I think but am not sure, participle. Does this refer to a one-time event completed in the past or a process completed in the past? Also does the participle make it a past process? Or is a any kind of perfect referring to a past process anyhow? There are several instances in the NT of the words "are sanctified" being translated from a perfect passive participle. I understand why the English present tense is used; but is the Greek perfect to be understood as speaking of a process completed in the past? If so, then is Ephesians 2:8, for grammatical reasons, to be understood differently as a one-time event completed in the past with continuing results? I will be checking e-mails the Tuesday or Wednesday after Christmas. Perhaps some people may have time to answer.
It helps to have the text at hand:
Ephesians 2:8 THi GAR CARITI ESTE SESWiSMENOI DIA PISTEWS KAI TOUTO OUK EX hUMWN QEOU TO DWRON
This is a periphrastic perfect tense: ESTE SESWiSMENOI is equivalent to SESWiSQE; it indicates the present state in which the addressees stand; what is underscored is the state as fully achieved, not action itself or when it took place.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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