Participles (2)

The "and" that is really a participle

Last lesson, a participle with the article became "the one who …". This lesson is about participles without an article. Take the prodigal son deciding to go home.

I will get up and go back to my father and say to him,

Luke 15:18

The Greek begins ἀναστὰς (anastas) πορεύσομαι (poreusomai). The main verb is πορεύσομαι, "I will go". ἀναστὰς is a participle of ἀνίστημι, "to rise, stand up", which occurs about 107 times, and the panel labels it 2nd aorist (a different stem shape, with the same meaning as an aorist). Literally it is "having risen, I will go", and English smooths this to "I will get up and go". The participle supplies background to the main verb.

A participle without the article can express time, reason, manner or condition, and so it is translated "having …", "when …", "after …", "because …" or "by …". Context decides which, and translations differ. Greek packs it into one word and leaves the link between the two actions for the reader to supply.

What comes first, and what runs alongside

Here is a rule of thumb. An aorist participle usually comes before the main action, and a present participle usually runs alongside it. It is a tendency, not a law. In ἀναστὰς πορεύσομαι the rising precedes the going. Mark 1:21 is similar.

and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.

Mark 1:21

εἰσελθὼν (eiselthōn) is the aorist participle of εἰσέρχομαι, "to enter", which occurs about 194 times. The main verb ἐδίδασκεν (edidasken) is imperfect, "was teaching". The entering came first and the teaching followed: "having entered … He was teaching". The participle sets the order of events.

In Matthew 26:30 the same pattern appears. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out", with ὑμνήσαντες "having sung" first, and the main verb ἐξῆλθον (exēlthon) from ἐξέρχομαι, "to go out", which occurs about 216 times.

A common pair: "answered and said"

One pairing turns up constantly in the Gospels.

But Jesus answered,

Matthew 4:4

ἀποκριθεὶς (apokritheis) is the aorist participle of ἀποκρίνω, "to answer", which occurs about 231 times, and the main verb is εἶπεν, "said". Literally "having answered, He said", but English puts it as "answered and said". The panel labels the participle passive deponent: passive in form, active in meaning. The opening ὁ δέ, "and he", is a common pair, and here the participle simply supplies the background, "answering".

A present participle pictures an action or state as ongoing, but context tells you when it was. In John 9:25 the healed man says, "I was blind, but now I see!" In Greek he says τυφλὸς ὢν (tuphlos ōn), "being blind", where ὢν is the present participle of εἰμί, "to be". Then come ἄρτι, "now", and the main verb βλέπω, "I see", so the blindness lies before the seeing. This is a good reminder that a present participle does not always share the time of the main verb. The rule of thumb is a starting point; context has the last word.

Where is the command?

Look again at Matthew 28:19.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

Matthew 28:19

πορευθέντες (poreuthentes) is the aorist participle of πορεύω, "to go, travel", which occurs about 147 times; like ἀποκριθεὶς, the panel labels it passive deponent. The next word, μαθητεύσατε, is an imperative. Grammatically the command is in the main verb, "make disciples", and "go" is the participle attached to it. That does not make "go" weak: it takes on the force of the command. Translations render it differently, "go and make disciples", "as you go, make disciples" and so on, and all are reading the same Greek structure. What to take away is that the centre is making disciples.

One more structure deserves a name only. Sometimes a participle and its own subject both stand in the genitive, separate from the main clause. This is called a genitive absolute. In Matthew 8:1, Καταβάντος αὐτοῦ means "when He came down", with the participle and pronoun both genitive, and the main clause then has its own subject, "crowds". That is all you need for now.

Summary

A participle without the article gives the background of the main verb, and is translated "having …", "when …", "after …" or "because …" as context suggests. As a rule of thumb, an aorist participle usually precedes the main action and a present participle usually runs alongside it. Learn to spot "answered and said" (ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν) and "rose and went" (ἀναστὰς πορεύσομαι). Remember that a command sits in the main verb and the participle hangs on it. There are no new labels, so use last lesson's endings to find the participle and find the main verb first.

Words in this lesson

• ἀποκρίνωapokrinōto answer231 times in the NT
• πορεύωporeuōto travel147 times in the NT
• ἐξέρχομαιexerchomaito go out216 times in the NT
• ἀνίστημιanistēmito arise107 times in the NT
• εἰσέρχομαιeiserchomaito enter194 times in the NT

Practice