New Testament Greek for Beginners

(Based on the book with the same title by Gresham Machen, The MacMillan Company, 1923)

LESSON XVIII

Present Participles
Use of Participles

225. Vocabulary

226. The declension of λύων, λύουσα, λῦον, loosing, the present active participle of λύω, is as follows:

227. This declension, like the declension of other adjectives, should be learned across, and not down the columns. See §61.

228. It will be observed that the masculine and neuter are declined according to the third declension (the masculine exactly like ἄρχων) and the feminine according to the first declension (like δόξα). The accent in the genitive plural feminine follows the noun rule for the first declension, not the adjective rule (see §§51,62).

229. It will be remembered that in the accusative plural the a in the ending is short in the third declension but long in the first declension.

230. The declension of λυόμενος, -η, -ον, loosing for himself, the present middle participle, and of λυόμενος, -η, -ον, being loosed, the present passive participle of λύω, is as follows:

It will be observed that this declension is like that of adjectives of the second and first declension.

231. The present participles are formed on the present stem of the verb (see §151). The present participles of any regular verb can be made by adding -ων, -ουσα, -ον, and -όμενος, -ομένη, -όμενον to the present stem of that verb.

232. Use of Participles

The participles are verbal adjectives. Being adjectives, they have gender, number, and case; and hke other adjectives they agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns that they modify. On the other hand, since they partake of the nature of verbs, (a) they have tense and voice, (b) they receive, like other parts of a verb, adverbial modifiers, and (c) if they be participles of a transitive verb they can take a direct object.

Examples:

(1) ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον, the apostle, saying these things in the temple, sees the Lord

Here the participle λέγων, which means saying, agrees with ἀπόστολος, which is in the nominative case and singular number and is a masculine noun. The participle, therefore, must be nominative singular masculine. On the other hand, the participle is enough of a verb to have tense and voice. It is in the present tense because the action which it denotes is represented as going on at the same time as the action of the leading verb βλέπει; it is in the active voice because it represents the apostle as doing something, not as having something done to him. And it has the adverbial modifier ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ and the direct object ταῦτα. On the other hand, it has no subject, as a finite verb (e.g. an indicative) would have; for the noun ἀπόστολος, which denotes the person represented as performing the action denoted by the participle, is not the subject of the participle, but the noun with which the participle, like any other adjective, agrees.

(2) βλέπομεν τὸν ἀπόστολον λέγοντα ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, we see the apostle saying these things in the temple

Here the noun with which the participle agrees is accusative singular masculine. Therefore the participle must also be accusative singular masculine. But its direct object and its adverbial modifier are the same as in (1).

(3) προσερχόμεθα τῷ ἀποστόλῳ λέγοντι ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, we come to the apostle while he is saying these things in the temple

Here the participle λέγοντι agrees with a masculine noun in the dative singular and must therefore itself be dative singular masculine. But in this example it is quite impossible to translate the participle literally. The translation, we come to the apostle saying these things in the temple, would not do at all, for in that English sentence the participle saying would be understood as agreeing not with the apostle but with the subject of the sentence, we. It is necessary, therefore, to give up all attempts at translating the participle "literally". Instead, we must express the idea which is expressed by the Greek participle in an entirely different way - by the use of a temporal clause. When such temporal clauses are used to translate a Greek present participle they are usually introduced by while. Such a free translation would have been better than the literal translation even in Example (1), although there the literal translation was not absolutely impossible. It would have been rather better to translate ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον by while the apostle is saying these things in the temple, he sees the Lord.

(4) διδασκομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου προσέρχονται αὐτῷ οἱ δοῦλοι, while he is being taught by the apostle, the servants are coming to him

Here διδασκομένῳ agrees with αὐτῷ, which, like τῷ ἀποστόλῳ in the preceding example, is dative with the verb προσέρχονται. διδασκομένῳ is the present passive participle of διδάσκω.

233. The Tense of the Participle

The tense of the participle is relative to the time of the leading verb.

The present participle, therefore, is used if the action denoted by the participle is represented as taking place at the same time as the action denoted by the leading verb, no matter whether the action denoted by the leading verb is past, present or future.

Examples:

(1) διδασκομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ δοῦλοι, while he was being taught by the apostle, the servants came to him

Here the action denoted by the participle διδασκομένῳ, though it is past with reference to the time when the sentence is spoken or written, is present with reference to the time of the leading verb - that is, the teaching was going on at the same time as the coming of the servants. Hence the present participle is used.

(2) πορευομένῳ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, while he was going in the way, his disciples came to him

It will be observed that the participles of the deponent verb πορεύομαι, like other parts of that verb, are active in meaning though passive in form. Otherwise this example is like (1).

(3) πορευόμενος ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εἶδεν τυφλόν, while he was going in the way, he saw a blind man

Here it will be observed that the participle frequently agrees with the unexpressed subject of a verb. Similarly λέγων ταῦτα εἶδεν τυφλόν, means while he was saying these things, he saw a blind man, and λέγοντες ταῦτα εἶδετε τυφλόν means while ye were saying these things, ye saw a blind man.

234. The Attributive Participle

The participle, like any other adjective, can stand in the attributive position.

Examples:

(1) It will be remembered (see §70) that ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἀπόστολος means the good apostle. In exactly the same way ὁ λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἀπόστολος means the saying-these-things-in-the-temple apostle. The participle (with its modifiers) is here an adjective in the attributive position; it takes the exact place of the attributive adjective ἀγαθός in the phrase ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἀπόστολος. It is more usual, however, to place the attributive participle (with its modifiers) in the second of the two alternative positions in which the attributive adjective can stand. Thus the usual order would be ὁ ἀπόστολος ὁ λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ. Here the λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ takes the exact place of ἀγαθός in the phrase ὁ ἀπόστολος ὁ ἀγαθὸς, which is one of the two ways in which the good apostle can be expressed.

Of course the "literal" translation, the saying-these-things-in-the-temple apostle, is not good English. The idiomatic English way of expressing the same idea is the apostle who is saying these things in the temple.

The difference between this attributive use of the participle and the use which appears in Example (1) in §232 should be noticed very carefully. In the sentence ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον, the participle λέγων, being in the predicate, not in the attributive, position, goes only somewhat loosely with ὁ ἀπόστολος (though it agrees with it), and really modifies also the verb βλέπει - that is, it tells when the action denoted by βλέπει took place. But the addition of the one little word ὁ before λέγων makes an enormous difference in the meaning. When that word is added we have the sentence ὁ ἀπόστολος ὁ λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βλέπει τὸν κύριον, the apostle who says these things in the temple sees the Lord. Here λέγων stands in the attributive position, and does not in any way modify the verb βλέπει; but it tells what apostle is being spoken of. Suppose some one asks us what apostle we are talking about. We could reply, "Not the good apostle or the bad apostle, or the great apostle or the small apostle, but the saying-these-things-in-the-temple apostle". It will be seen that the attributive participle identifies the particular apostle that we are talking about.

(2) Compare εἶδον τοὺς ἀποστόλους λέγοντας ταῦτα, I saw the apostles while they were saying these things or I saw the apostles saying these things, with εἶδον τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοὺς λέγοντας ταῦτα, I saw the apostles that/who were saying these things. In the latter case the (attributive) participle tells what apostles we are talking about.

235 . Substantive Use of the Participle

The participle, like any other adjective, can be used substantively with the article.

It will be remembered that ὁ ἀγαθός means the good man; ἡ ἀγαθή, the good women; τὸ ἀγαθόν, the good thing; οἱ ἀγαθοί, the good men, etc. In exactly the same way ὁ λέγων ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ means the saying-these-things-in-the-temple man. The participle (with its modifiers), just like the adjective, tells what man we are talking about. But how shall the same idea be expressed in idiomatic English? There are various closely related ways - for example, the man who says/is saying these things in the temple, or the one who says/is saying these things in the temple, or he who says/is saying these things in the temple. It should be observed, however, that none of these English phrases is a literal translation of the Greek. The Greek ὁ does not mean the man or the one or he. It means the, and it is just as simple an article as the article in the phrase the cat or the dog or the house. But in English we do not use the article with the substantive participle. Therefore we have to reproduce the idea of the Greek ὁ λέγων by a phrase of which the individual parts have absolutely nothing to do with the individual parts of the Greek phrase. It is only the total meaning of the English phrase which is the same as the total meaning of the Greek phrase.

The following examples should also be examined:

(1) εἶδον τὸν λέγοντα ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, I saw the one who was saying these things in the temple. Here the Greek uses the present participle because the time of the action denoted by the participle is the same as that of the action denoted by the leading verb, even though the action denoted by the leading verb here happens to be in past time.

(2) εἶδον τοὺς λέγοντας ταῦτα, I saw those who were saying these things

(3) ὁ ἀδελφὸς τῆς λεγούσης ταῦτα δοῦλός ἐστιν, the brother of the woman who is saying these things is a servant

(4) ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν ἐγείροντα τοὺς νεκροὺς σώζεται, he who believes on the One who raises the dead is being saved

(5) τὸ σώζον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, the thing that saves (or that which saves) men is the will of God

(6) τὰ βλεπόμενα οὐ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, the things that are seen do not remain for ever

236. The following summary may be found useful:

Present Participles

Active: λύων = loosing
Middle: λυόμενος = loosing for himself
Passive: λυόμενος = being loosed

Present Participles with Article

Active:

ὁ λύων, the loosing man = the man who looses / the one who looses / he who looses
τό λῦον, the loosing thing = the thing that looses / that which looses
οἱ λύοντες, the loosing men = the men who loose / the ones who loose / those who loose

Middle: ὁ λυόμενος, the loosing-for-himself man = the man who looses for himself / the one who looses for himself / he who looses for himself
Passive: ὁ λυόμενος, the being-loosed man = the man who is being loosed / the one who is being loosed / he who is being loosed

237. It should be noticed that the English word he in the phrase he who looses is not a real - certainly not an ordinary - personal pronoun, but merely the light antecedent of the relative pronoun who. He has no value of its own but goes in the closest possible way with who, so as to form the phrase he who. The Greek language, rather strangely as it may seem to us, possesses no such light antecedent of the relative. The ordinary Greek way, therefore, of expressing the idea he who looses is to use article with participle and say the loosing man, ὁ λύων. Similarly, the English word that in the phrase that which looses, and the English word those in the phrase those who loose, are not really demonstrative adjectives or pronouns; they do not really "point out" anything. They are very different, for example, from the demonstratives in the phrases that house across the street or those trees over there on the campus. The that and the those in these sentences could be accompanied by a pointing finger; they are real demonstratives. But the that and the those in the phrases that which looses or those that loose are simply light antecedents of the relative, and for them the Greek has no equivalent. Such phrases, therefore, must be cast into an entirely different mould before they can be translated into Greek.

238. The English word that has a number of widely different uses. It is (1) a conjunction, (2) a demonstrative adjective or pronoun, (3) a light antecedent of the relative, and (4) a relative pronoun like which.

Example: I know that that which saves the men that receive that gospel is the will of God. Here the first that is a conjunction; the second, the light antecedent of the relative; the third, a relative pronoun; the fourth, a real demonstrative. The Greek language has a different way of expressing each of these uses of that. The sentence in Greek would be as follows: γινώσκο ὅτι τὸ σῶζον τοὺς δεχομένους ἐκεῖνο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν.

The two uses of the English word those may be illustrated by the sentence, those who believe will receive those good men, οἱ πιστεύοντες δέξονται ἐκείνους τοὺς ἀγαθούς.

239. The importance of this lesson and the two following lessons can hardly be overestimated. Unless the student understands thoroughly the use of participles, it will be quite impossible for him ever to master the later lessons or to read the Greek Testament. The participle is quite the crucial matter in the study of Greek.

240. Exercises

I.

1. διωκόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος προσευχόμεθα τῷ θεῷ.
2. ὁ σὲ δεχόμενος δέχεται καὶ τὸν κύριον.
3. ταῦτα λέγομεν τοῖς προσευχομένοις ἐν τῷ οἶκῳ περὶ τοῦ ἐγείροντος τοὺς νεκρούς.
4. ἐξερχομένοις ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας λέγει ἡμῖν ταῦτα.
5. αἱ ἐκκλησίαι αἱ διωκόμεναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸν κύριον.
6. οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς τὸν κύριον σώζονται.
7. γινώσκει ὁ θεὸς τὰ γραφόμενα ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τῆς ζωῆς.
8. ἐξήλθομεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἄγοντες τὰ τέκνα.
9. εἴδομεν τοὺς λαμβάνοντας τὰ δῶρα ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων.
10. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἄρχων ὁ δεχόμενός με εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ.
11. ἅγιοί εἰσιν οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς τὸν κύριον καὶ σωζόμενοι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ.
12. τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ σῶζον ἡμᾶς.
13. ἦσαν ἐν τῷ οἶκῳ τῷ λυομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος.
14. ἦσαν ἐν τῷ οἶκῳ λυομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος.
15. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἡ πιστεύουσα εἰς τὸν κύριον.
16. διδασκόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἐπορεύεσθε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ ἀναβαινούσῃ εἰς τὴν ἔρημον.
17. ἐκηρύχθη ὑπ' αὐτῶν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ σώζον τοὺς ἁμαρτωλούς.
18. τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ κηρυσσόμενον ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ σῶζον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
19. ἦλθον πρὸς αῦτὸν βαπτίζοντα τοὺς μαθητάς.
20. ἔτι ὄντα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ εἶδομεν αὐτόν.

Answer Key

II.

1. While he was still in the ^(*1) flesh the Lord was saving those who were believing on Him.

^(*1) Ιn such phrases, the article is often omitted in Greek.

2. While we were being taught in the temple we were being persecuted by the ruler.
3. Those who are being saved by the Lord know Him who saves them.
4. Those who were proclaiming these things received, themselves also, the things which were being proclaimed by them.
5. She who is receiving the Lord into her house sees the face of the One who saves her.
6. While He was still teaching in the temple we saw Him.
7. While we were teaching in the temple we saw the One who saves us.
8. The hope that is seen is not hope.
9. The Lord said to those who were believing on Him that God saves sinners.
10. The brothers of those who persecute the disciples have not hope.
11. Those who say these things do not know the One who saves the Church.
12. We were cast out by the ruler who persecutes the Church.
13. This is the voice which is being heard by those who believe, in the Lord.
14. While I was remaining in the house, I saw the women who were taking gifts from the disciples.
15. Being preached by those who believe in the Lord, the gospel will lead men into the Church.
16. The faithful ones will see the Lord going up into heaven.

Answer Key