As we continue with this book discussion, which I will conclude on 7/31/2023, this entry is for chapter 14 of Exegetical Gems. In this unit, Merkle considers imperfect indicatives: his focus text is Galatians 1:13.
We all know Saul of Tarsus' history; he was advancing in the ranks of Judaism as a Pharisee and tried ardently to ravage the ecclesia of God and Christ. Saul's efforts were sincere but he later spoke about his earlier course in 1 Timothy 1:13, calling himself a blasphemer, an insolent man and the foremost of sinners. However, because he was ignorant (lacking the requite knowledge), Jehovah forgave Saul and assigned a ministry to him. He became an apostle to the nations and we know him as Paul. The apostle recounted his prior course to the Galatians: it's interesting how translators render 1:13:
NWT 2013: "Of course, you heard about my conduct formerly in Juʹda·ism, that I kept intensely persecuting the congregation of God and devastating it"
ESV: "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it."
Byington: "For you have heard about my life back in my Jewish days, that I was extraordinarily active in persecuting and ravaging God’s church"
Why do translators handle Galatians 1:13 in these diverse ways?
Greek (WH): Ἠκούσατε γὰρ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφήν ποτε ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ, ὅτι καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν
The verb ἐπόρθουν is imperfect: the imperfect morphology (tense-form) is imperfective aspect, which means that the verb depicts action as "progressive, internal, or incomplete" (Merkle, page 63). The imperfect "almost always" grammaticalizes past time since it's in the indicative mood. But how does markedness potentially affect imperfect-tensed verbs? Given marked features, the imperfect functions like the present tense does:
Progressive (Luke 4:15), inceptive (John 5:9), iterative (Acts 2:40), and tendential (Acts 18:4) Aktionsarten. The last category known as tendential could apply to Galatians 1:13.
Merkle explains that Greek tends to wield the imperfect in order to communicate attempted action or an action that is tried but not necessarily completed. Several verses in the NT appear to confirm that imperfect indicatives have the ability to portray conative or inchoate action.
I will conclude the last part of this discussion with some prior research I've done on this question:
James Brooks and Carlton L. Winbery classify ἐδίωκον and ἐπόρθουν in Galatians 1:13 as examples of the Greek descriptive imperfect, meaning that the verbs describe what has taken place at some time in the past. However, they note that ἐπόρθουν "could also be interpreted as a tendential imperfect" (Syntax of NT Greek, 91).
Compare the tendential imperfect at Acts 26:11. In the final analysis, I agree that it is a judgment call when translating Galatians 1:13, but it seems to me that Paul did not lay waste or destroy the Christian congregation. Rather, he tried laying waste to God's congregation.
Walter W. Wessel (in Mounce's grammar) states that ἐπόρθουν at Galatians 1:13 is a tendential imperfect, expressing attempted action (BBG, 176). Again, the reasoning is that Paul did not really devastate the congregation of God, but only attempted to do so. Moreover, ἐδίωκον appears to express repeated action in the past (customary action), which explains the NASB's "used to persecute . . . "
Ralph Earle writes: "The imperfect tense would suggest that Paul 'was ravaging' the Church and trying to destroy it, but that he did not completely succeed" (Word Meanings in the NT, 271).
Hans D. Betz, Galatians, page 67--Hermeneia Series:
112 Bauer's tr. uses the imperfect de conatu: "I tried to destroy." So also BDR, § 326. Cf. the same term Gal 1:23; Acts 9:21, in the same context. The term is common as a description of political oppression. See 4 Macc 4:23; 11:4; Philo Flacc. 54; Josephus BJ 4.405; Ant. 10.135. For passages see also LSJ, s.v., and Philippe- H. Menoud, "Le sens du verbe Porqein," in Apophoreta, Festschrift fur E. Haenchen (BZNW 30; Berlin: Topelmann, 1964) 178-86. G reads ἐπολέμουν ("I attacked") instead, perhaps an influence of the Latin expugnabam.
Douglas Moo, Galatians, page 100:
With a ὅτι (hoti, that), Paul elaborates on the specifics of that “former way of life in Judaism.” First, he was “intensely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it” (καθ᾿ ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν, kath’ hyperbolēn ediōkon tēn ekklēsian tou theou kai eporthoun autēn). Both verbs are in the imperfect tense, the former because it is a durative idea—“I was persecuting”—and the second because it is conative—“I tried to destroy” (Wallace 1996: 551).
The conative use is synonymous with the tendential Aktionsart. Other verses that Merkle cites to support the case for Galatians 1:13 being conative are Matthew 3:14-15; Luke 4:42; Mark 15:23.
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