The perfect and pluperfect

Died, buried, and has been raised

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3

that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:4

In the gospel Paul passes on, three verbs fall into two tenses. "Died" is ἀπέθανεν and "was buried" is ἐτάφη: aorists (ἐτάφη is an aorist passive), the tense you met in the aorist lesson, each naming an event. But "was raised" is different.

ἐγήγερται ("egēgertai") is a perfect. A fuller English rendering would be "He has been raised, and He stays raised". The perfect presents an action as completed, with a result that lasts into the present. Death and burial are events in the past; the resurrection is a standing reality. English translations can rarely show the shift, but the Greek makes it. Do not expect every perfect to draw such a contrast, though. As a rule of thumb, the perfect points to a lasting result. Its lexicon form is ἐγείρω "raise", which occurs more than 140 times.

Reduplication and -κα-

The most visible mark of the perfect is reduplication: the first consonant of the stem is repeated in front, usually with ε. In πεπίστευκα ("pepisteuka"), the π of πιστεύω is repeated as πε-, and -κα follows. Martha says "I have believed", meaning that she believes now. In γέγραπται ("gegraptai"), the γ of γράφω is repeated. "It is written" is the natural English, and it expresses the Greek well: it was written and it stands written. In Mark 1:15, πεπλήρωται says the time "has been fulfilled". Its verb is πληρόω "fill, fulfil", which occurs more than 80 times.

The active perfect endings are -κα, -κας, -κε(ν), -καμεν, -κατε, -κασι(ν). You can see them in ἑωράκαμεν ("heōrakamen"), "we have seen", from ὁράω "see": John gives his eyewitness basis, "we have seen, and what we saw remains our testimony". The verb is irregular, so its reduplication is hard to spot. When a form looks complicated, trust the panel's lexicon form.

The 2nd perfect has no κ

The panel also has a "2nd perfect". It is just a perfect without the κ, and its meaning is the same. First John 1:1 has ἀκηκόαμεν "we have heard", and John 3:2 has ἐλήλυθας "you have come" (a teacher come from God, and here now). John 1:3 ends with γέγονεν "has come into being", also a 2nd perfect.

The pluperfect: a perfect in the past

When the lasting result is set in the past, you get the pluperfect, which is rare. In First John 2:19 John says of those who left: if they had belonged to us, μεμενήκεισαν "they would have remained with us". It has the reduplication με- of the perfect and the ending -εισαν. In John 2:9 the master of the feast ᾔδει "did not know" where the wine came from: a 2nd pluperfect, built on the stem of οἶδα.

That brings us to οἶδα "know", a verb that is perfect in form but present in meaning (the idea is roughly "I have seen, so I now know"). The panel labels it perfect, as in οἴδαμεν "we know" in John 3:2 and οἶδα "I know" in John 9:25, but read it as "know". It occurs more than 280 times.

Summary

The perfect is marked by reduplication (πε-, γε-) and, in the active, -κα-; it shows a completed action with a result that continues. A 2nd perfect lacks the κ. A pluperfect is a perfect set in the past. And οἶδα is a perfect with a present meaning. When you meet a perfect, ask what result is still standing now.

Words in this lesson

• οἶδαoidato know283 times in the NT
• ὁράωhoraōto see: see89 times in the NT
• ἐγείρωegeirōto arise143 times in the NT
• πληρόωplēroōto fulfill86 times in the NT

Practice