[B-Greek] Ephesians 2:8 ESTE SESWSMENOI
Alexander Jech
awjjech at gmail.com
Mon Mar 21 10:00:30 EDT 2011
I have a question about how to understand the significance in Ephesians 2:8
of using the periphrastic phrase ESTE SESWSMENOI rather than SESWSQE. What I
remember from my teachers was that these were roughly equivalent; the only
difference might be in emphasis. In both statements, we are to understand a
perfect (or stative) aspect: you are in a state of having been saved, of
being safe, you are right now saved.
But I recently read in Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar that using
the periphrastic form alters the aspect from perfect to continuous, so the
meaning of the statement is not *you have been saved*, but *you are in the
process of being saved*. I don't have my copy here, so I can't quote the
passage exactly; it was in one of the theological introductions that the
book includes for each chapter, in this case the introduction by Paul
Johnson to the chapter on Perfect Participles and the Genitive Absolute.
Reading this completely surprised me!
So, I did some searching of the B-Greek archives, to see if I could find an
answer there. Although I will admit that my searching of the archives was
somewhat incompetent, I turned up nothing definitive. I found some support
for my understanding of perfect periphrasis and some indication of
disagreement about it, too, and I wasn't sure what to conclude. So I decided
to write to the list to ask my questions directly. Is this a disagreement
amongst Greek scholars about how to interpret periphrastic phrases? Does
this reflect an evolution in Greek between Attic and other older dialects
and the Koine dialect, or over some other time span? Did I just forget what
my teachers taught me? (I recall covering perfect participles in an
exceedingly short amount of time!) I would appreciate any help that anyone
can provide on these points.
--
Alexander Jech
University of Virginia
Program in Political Philosophy, Policy & Law
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