[B-Greek] APOKRITHEIS in Matthew 28:5

Farrell Till jftill at mailaka.net
Sat Mar 17 12:14:08 EST 2007


A Bible group that I participate in has been discussing differences in 
Matthew's and John's resurrection narratives. A key concern during the 
discussions has been why John said that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, 
found it empty, and then ran to tell Peter and "the other disciple" that 
the body had been stolen, whereas Matthew said that Mary  M was one of the 
women who went to the tomb, saw an angel descend, roll away the stone, and 
tell the women that Jesus had risen, after which the women, who would have 
included Mary M, left the tomb, encountered Jesus, and even touched and 
worshiped him.

The two accounts seem incompatible, but a solution has emerged during the 
discussions.  This solution hinges on some lexicographical claims that the 
aorist tense of APOKRINOMAI conveys the idea of "answering 
later."  Moulton's,  Perschbacher's, and Wigram's Analytical Greek Lexicons 
have been cited to support this solution.  All of them give the same 
explication of this verb.

>APOKRINOMAI (§ 27. rem. 3) aor. 1, APOKRINAMHN  “and, later, also”  (pass. 
>form) APEKRIQHN (i, fut. (pass. form) APOKRIQHSOMAI (APOKRINW to separate, 
>from APO & KRINW to answer, Mat. 3.15, et al.; in N. T. to respond to 
>certain present circumstances, to avow, Mat. 11.25 et al.

Matthew 28:5 contains the aorist 1 participle APOKRIQEIS, so on that basis 
some have theorized that this verse should have been translated "And later 
answering, the angel said...."  This translation of the verse would allow 
for a gap or delay between the angel's descent and his speaking to the 
women, so possibly Mary Magdalene could have left the tomb site before the 
angel announced the resurrection and gone to find Peter and John.  This, 
then, would possibly explain why she thought that the body had been stolen 
even though Matthew's account says that the angel told the women that Jesus 
had risen and that they then encountered Jesus personally.

A major problem, however, is that we can find no Bible versions in either 
English or French that translated APOKRITHEIS this way in Matthew 28:5 or 
anywhere else in the New Testament.  Is there any basis for thinking that 
APOKRITHEIS in this verse did communicate the idea of a significant time 
delay?  Are there any places in the NT where APOKRITHEIS was translated 
"later answered" or its equivalent.

If not, why do you suppose that Wigram, Moulton, and Perschbacher have said 
that APOKRITHEIS in the aorist tense could mean "and, later," or "also."

Another problem that some of us have wondered about is how conjunctive 
("and" or "also") or adverbial ("later") terms could properly define a 
verbal  word.  None of these terms convey concepts of verbal action.

Some of us have elementary knowledge of Koine Greek but nothing that could 
be considered scholarly.  Any input that the group could give us would be
be

J. F. Till (ret.)
jftill at mailaka.net 




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