[B-Greek] APOKRITHEIS in Matthew 28:5

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Mar 17 11:24:26 EST 2007


I am strongly inclined to think that all this rests upon a  
misunderstanding of the lexical reference cite: "and, later, also"  
have nothing whatsoever to do with the meaning of APOKRINOMAI or its  
aorist forms APEKRINAMHN (exceedingly rare in the GNT, 7x) and  
APEKRIQHN (the standard form, 213x). What the lexical reference is  
telling you is simply that the aorist form of APOKRINOMAI was  
APEKRINAMHN and that it was ALSO, LATER: APEKRIQHN. APEKRIQHN means  
exactly the same thing as APEKRINAMHN. The simple fact is that the  
aorist middle forms were gradually being supplanted by the so-called  
passive forms in -QH-. There is nothing unique about APOKRINOMAI.  
There is no adverbial sense of 'later" in the aorist form APOKRIQEIS.


On Mar 17, 2007, at 1:14 PM, Farrell Till wrote:

> 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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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/




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