[B-Greek] Translating EIS at 1 Thess. 4:15

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Mar 6 00:58:48 EST 2010


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Timothy Lawson" <tslawson1 at yahoo.com>
To: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
Cc: <B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 6. marts 2010 02:14
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Translating EIS at 1 Thess. 4:15

> I have noted in my researching the possibility that PERILEIPOMENOI as a 
> "stative" verb that PERILEIPOMAI occurs only in the passive as is indicated by 
> BDAG. I understand that only transitive verbs can be passives and evidently 
> all "stative" verbs are intransitive. Is this line of reasoning helpful in 
> ruling out PERILEIPOMENOI as "stative" or are other forces at work that allow 
> PERILEIPOMENOI to be "stative" even though normally found in the passive? Can 
> the passive voice of a governing verb override the transitive force of a 
> preposition just as well as the "stative" nature of a verb?
---------------
IL:

It is helpful to make a distinction between stative verbs and stative forms of a 
verb. Verbs can be put in different categories. Verbs of action, of motion, of 
description etc.
But the perfect "tense" in Greek is often described as being stative, and that 
is something different.

The verb PERILEIPOMAI is only used in the MP forms. Whether it is middle or 
passive is up to the context.
It occurs two times in the NT, in 1 Thes 4:15 and 17. LSJ suggests: "to be left 
remaining, remain over, survive".

In 15, it is used in apposition to hOI ZWNTES, and in opposition to TOUS 
KOIMHQENTAS, and it refers to us who are left behind by death, i.e. we are still 
alive.
15: ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ 
φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας
hHMEIS hOI ZWNTES hOI PERILEIPOMENOI EIS THN PAROUSIAN TOU KURIOU OU MH FQASWMEN 
TOUS KOIMHQENTAS

EIS is simply up to the point of the PAROUSIA, and in this context similar to 
hEWS. We are still alive, not dead, going about our business until the event of 
the PAROUSIA.

17:  ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν 
νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα
EPEITA hHMEIS hOI ZWNTES hOI PERILEIPOMENOI hAMA SUN AUTOIS hARPAGHSOMEQA EN 
NEFELAIS EIS APANTHSIN TOU KURIO EIS AERA
Then, we, the living ones, the remaining ones, will be caught up together with 
them (the raised dead ones from v. 16) in/by clouds to a meeting with the Lord 
in air.

Being alive is a state, as is remaining or surviving. Notice that ZWNTES is a 
present form of a stative verb "to live, be alive". I doubt that ZAW can occur 
in a perfect tense.
(PERI)LEIPW (leave behind) is not in itself a stative verb, but the perfect 
tense creates a stative form of the verb. An MP form can have a similar effect 
of focusing on the state or result rather than the action.

Iver Larsen 




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