APOKRIQEIS, was Re: Matt 11:25 etc...

From: alexali (alexali@surf.net.au)
Date: Thu Oct 28 1999 - 19:46:28 EDT


Brian Swedburg asked about APOKRIQEIS and interesting comments have been
made by list members. This is just a note which is not at all in
contradiction of those responses, but perhaps may be of some help since
Brian describes himself as being 'young in his Greek studies'. I confine
my remarks to Luke's gospel, since my daily readings have just taken me
through it. At 5:21, the scribes and Pharisees question among themselves,
'Who is able to forgive sins except God alone'; v22 EPIGNOUS DE hO IHSOUS
TOUS DIALOGISMOUS AUTWN APOKRIQEIS EIPEN PROS AUTOUS... in which instance
the words the Lord says to them are not an answer to something spoken
directly to him. At 7:36ff, a sinful woman washes the Lord's feet at the
house of a Pharisee who had invited him, and v39 the Pharisee says *to
himself* that 'If this man were a prophet he would know ... '; v40 KAI
APOKRIQEIS hO IHSOUS EIPEN PROS AUTON... Here this is an 'answer' to
thoughts unspoken. At 13:10ff, the Lord delivers a crippled woman from her
infirmity on a Sabbath; he places his hands upon her, she straightens up
and praises God. In v14, APOKRIQEIS DE hO ARCISUNAGWGOS, AGANAKTWN hOTI
TWi SABBATWi EQERAPEUSEN hO IHSOUS, ELEGEN TWi OCLWi ... Here the
APOKRIQEIS does not refer to the ruler of the synagogue's answering the
woman - she has spoken to God, not him; nor is he answering the Lord.
Rather, he is 'answering' that which has taken place and which he has seen.
 In each of these instances, we could, I suggest, translate "in response".
And so similarly at 14:3 (the Lord's responding to a man suffering from
dropsy, and knowing that 'they were closely observing him'); I view 22:51
in the same way (in response to the ear of the high priest's servant being
cut off v50, rather than answering the question of v49). APOKRIQEIS likes
to nestle up to a verb of saying such as EIPEN or ELEGEN, and becomes a
bit of a fossil (as Steven Craig Miller noted, "many scholars hold that
APOKRIQEIS has simply become redundant"), but where it does add a nuance it
is sometimes "in response (even to what has occurred)" rather than "in
(direct) answer (to what has been said)".

Dr Alex Hopkins
(Melbourne, Australia)

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