[B-Greek] PEPOIHKEN in Heb. 11:28

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Jun 6 08:27:06 EDT 2007


On Jun 6, 2007, at 8:14 AM, John Sanders wrote:

> PISTEI PEPOIHKEN [MWUSHS] TO PASCA KAI THN PROSCUSIN TOU hAIMATOS  
> (Heb. 11:28)
>
> It is obvious that the aorist tense has lost its monopoly and that  
> the perfect tense has gained use at the expense of the aorist.  So  
> the question here is whether the use of the perfect is in an  
> "aorist sense" or in a "perfect sense" (that is as a perfective or  
> as a substantive).  And the only reason that the question comes up  
> is because the paschal ceremony still continues.
>
> I suspect you can read it either way, it will not effect the theme  
> that is being presented.  You may even read it with both layers in  
> mind.
>
> John Sanders
> Suzhou, China
>
> Zerwick-Grosvenor says that PEPOIHKEN, as perfect, refers to  
> "inaugurationof a rite still observed". This seems reasonable to  
> me, but I also findperfect forms tossed in as though they were  
> aorists occasionally in the GNT.Is Zerwick-Grosvenor over- 
> interpreting the perfect here?   Webb Mealy

One final note on PEPOIHKEN in Heb 11:28. While I did say (and think  
it probable) that the passover may have been an older ritual given a  
new meaning in the exodus experience, I acknowledge that this isn't  
relevant to how we understand the tense of the verb PEPOIHKEN here.  
But I still do NOT think that some special sense of "inaugurate" or  
"establish" the ritual is indicated by the tense of PEPOIHKEN. I  
think that BDAG's sense 2.f. is appropriate here, "perform,  
celebrate." I think that the point in Heb 11:28 is that Moses carried  
out what he was told to do because he trusted God: he "got it done."  
Call it "telic" if you want; I still don't think there would be any  
difference in meaning between PEPOIHKEN and EPOIHSEN in this context  
-- but others obviously think otherwise.

I would put matters the other way around rather than as John has done  
above: I think it is the aorist that has gained use at the expense of  
the perfect. It is the usage of the perfect tense that is diminishing  
in Hellenistic Koine, not the usage of the aorist. Even more so, the  
pluperfect diminishes in use as the aorist serves its function to  
indicate anterior past action.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





More information about the B-Greek mailing list