[B-Greek] APOKRITHEIS in Matthew 28:5

Harold Holmyard hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Sat Mar 17 20:11:14 EST 2007


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.

HH: The two accounts are quite compatible, but I will share with you 
off-line about it. I don't think the answer is in the verb you discuss.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>   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 
>   



More information about the B-Greek mailing list