Perfect and Pluperfect Indicative Verbs

The perfect and pluperfect tenses are the final tenses to learn. They occur more rarely than the others, so in light of grammarian Steve Runge’s dictum “choice implies meaning,” we must ask what meaning a biblical author intended to convey in choosing the perfect or pluperfect tenses.

In Rev 18, a mighty angel declares the imminent destruction of “Babylon the Great”—a female prostitute who represents the demonic control of economic and political power in active rebellion against God. The angel says,

[A]ll the nations have drunk (πέπωκαν) the maddening wine of [Babylon’s] adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. (Rev 18:3 NIV)

Using language of sexual unfaithfulness (mirroring Old Testament metaphorical language of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God), the angelic messenger tells the apostle John that nations “have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.” You will note in the verse printed above that the English translation “have drunk” is a rendering of πέπωκαν, the Greek perfect of πίνω. The dominant meaning of the Greek perfect is to report a past event (the nations drank wine) that issues in a resulting state (the nations are now drunk). In other words, a demonically-inspired rebellion against God has been ingested by the nations and is now found enmeshed in their political and economic systems. They are in a state of demonically-empowered inebriation (wicked rebellion) against the Creator and Sovereign of the universe.

When you watch or read the news, do you ever struggle to understand the animosity and illogicality of governmental persecution of Christians—whether in America or elsewhere around the world? Revelation pulls back the veil on this mystery. Indeed, Revelation administers a spiritual breathalyzer test on the nations and finds them demonically drunk on rebellion.

We will consider three nuances of the perfect tense in the indicative mood, beginning with the most common meaning.

• Past Action with Resulting State: Within the New Testament, the perfect tense usually communicates a completed past action with a resulting state of affairs in the present (from the perspective of the author, not the reader). The action itself is done and is no longer being performed, although the consequences of the action have continuing results. Thus, the verb’s aspect is stative because it describes the resulting state or condition of a past action. In a recent technical study, a Greek grammarian calculated that 54 percent of perfects in the New Testament convey a stative idea (completed action, continuing result). For such stative meaning, sometimes the focus of the perfect tense verb is on the past action; other times, the focus is on the resulting state. When the latter is in view, it is usually best to translate the perfect with an English present (e.g., γέγραπται = “it is/stands written” and not “it has been written,” Matt 4:4, 7, 10).

• Past Action with Ongoing Relevance: The perfect tense can also be used to describe a past action that has ongoing relevance for the writer’s discussion. In other words, depending on the literary context, the author may choose thenot because he is emphasizing an ongoing state that results from past action but because the completed past action has ongoing relevance for his discourse. A Greek grammarian recently calculated that 35 percent of the perfects in the New Testament are rightly understood as conveying continuing relevance.

One example of such use is found in 1 John 1:1–3, where the author uses several perfect verbs to describe the apostles’ experiences of seeing and hearing Jesus (ἑωράκαμεν, “we have seen”; ἀκηκόαμεν, “we have heard”). These past events have immediate relevance for John’s discussion, in which John declares for the unified apostolic witness, “We testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us” (1 John 1:2). The past actions of apostolic seeing and hearing have direct continuing relevance (and logically undergird) the current apostolic actions of testifying and announcing.

Another example of the perfect of continuing relevance is found in Mark 7:36–37. Here, following the healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment, Jesus addresses the eyewitnesses of the miracle. Mark reports: “And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done (πεποίηκεν, perfect tense) all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak’ ” (ESV). The traditional understanding of the perfect (a completed event with continuing results) does not fit well here. More likely, it is the ongoing relevance of Jesus’s amazing works that Mark wants to highlight for his discussion. Indeed, it is because of these amazing works that Jesus has done in the past, that the crowds are astonished in the present. These works done by Jesus (perfect tense) have continuing relevance for understanding the crowds’ assessment of Jesus.

• Past Action from a Wholistic Perspective: Finally, in the Koine period, we find a third, relatively rare function of the perfect tense (accounting for only 11 percent of perfects in the New Testament). At this point in the development of the Greek language, the perfect tense is beginning to overlap with the aorist, so it is occasionally employed to report a prior past action from a wholistic perspective with seemingly no comment on the resulting state or ongoing relevance of the activity. That is, in such cases, the perfect is essentially synonymous with the aorist. Such usage, while relatively rare, is more common in later New Testament writings. For example, in Rev 8:5, we read, “Then the angel took (εἴληφεν, perfect) the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (NET). Despite various creative efforts of commentators to explain the perfect tense in some other way, εἴληφεν seems to be functioning the same way that the aorist form (ἔλαβεν) would—simply to report an event in past narrative from a wholistic perspective (perfective aspect). If we trace the usage of the perfect tense into the Byzantine (post-Koine) period, we find that the perfect eventually overlaps completely in meaning with the aorist and thus, redundant, disappears from the language.

Perfect verbs are typically easy to recognize because of the reduplication of the first letter of the stem with an added epsilon (ε). Reduplication indicates the completion of the action (compare the augment which indicates that the time of the action was in the past). The active forms also have a -κα tense formative affixed to the end of the stem whereas the perfect middle/passive forms lack the tense formative (with no connecting vowel).

Perfect Active

Reduplication: Again, one of the signature features of the perfect tense-form is the reduplication of the initial letter of the stem. That is, the first letter of the stem is added to the beginning of the verb with an epsilon (ε) in between the two consonants to aid in pronunciation.

λε + λυ = λελυ-

Tense Formative: A kappa + alpha (-κα) is added to the end of the stem (similar to the -σα for the aorist tense-form).

λελυ + κα = λέλυκα

Here is a more precise breakdown of the component parts (morphemes) of the active form:

The perfect active endings are exactly the same as those of the first aorist active, except for the variation in the third person plural form. (Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the reduplication and the added kappa.)

The alternate third person plural form (λελύκαν) is sometimes used in place of λελύκασιν. (It appears in nine of the thirty-two occurrences in the New Testament).

Perfect Middle/passive

Reduplication: The same reduplication as found in the active voice also occurs in the middle or passive voice.

λε + λυ = λελυ-

No Tense Formative: The middle/passive forms, however, lack the kappa + alpha (-κα) tense formative found with the active forms.

λελυ + μαι = λέλυμαι

Vocalic Reduplication

For verbs whose stem begins with a vowel, reduplication does not occur. Instead, the initial vowel is lengthened. (This looks similar to an augment for imperfect and aorist verbs.)

The example above is a contract verb (ἀγαπάω). In such verbs, the contract vowel (in this case an alpha) is lengthened to an eta (α→η; ἠγάπηκα); this is similar to future and first aorist contract verbs.

With verbs that begin with a diphthong, the first vowel will typically lengthen. This causes the second vowel to subscript if it is an iota (ι).

Some verbs that begin with a vowel reduplicate the first two letters (Attic Reduplication).

Verbs that begin with two consonants (or a double consonant like ψ, ζ, or ξ) sometimes do not fully reduplicate but add an epsilon (which should not be confused with an augment).

Aspirant Reduplication

An aspirant is a Greek letter that contains an “h” sound when pronounced. Verbs beginning with an aspirant letter (θ, φ, χ) reduplicate with the non-aspirant counterparts (τ, π, κ): θ → τ, φ → π, χ → κ.

Compound Verb Reduplication

For verbs that begin with a prepositional prefix, reduplication occurs after the preposition (directly in front of the stem).

Some verbs have an irregular perfect form. The “second” perfect forms (similar to a second aorist form) have dropped the kappa (κ) and only have an alpha (α) tense formative.

Other verbs have irregular forms caused by irregular stems, stems beginning with a diphthong, or stems borrowed from other verb forms.

Verb stems ending in τ, δ, θ, or ζ will drop these letters before adding the kappa tense formative. This is similar to dropping τ, δ, or θ when adding a sigma (σ) in the future or aorist tense-forms.

The verb οἶδα is also irregular since the lexical form is often parsed as a perfect tense-form but the meaning is present. Similarly, the pluperfect form (ᾔδειν) is used like an aorist. With this verb, there is no reduplication since it begins with a diphthong. Additionally, the kappa (κ) tense formative has dropped out, leaving only the alpha (α). This verb is significant since it occurs 212 times as a perfect indicative and 33 times as a pluperfect indicative.

Here are the perfect and pluperfect active forms. It is not necessary to memorize these paradigms, but you should be able to recognize and parse the forms below.

We should think of the pluperfect tense as primarily conveying a meaning that is comparable to the first function of the perfect described above (completed action, continuing result). Yet, unlike the perfect, the pluperfect tense describes a past state that was brought about by an action even further in the past. This tense is uncommon, occurring only eighty-six times in the New Testament.

• Intensive Pluperfect: Emphasizes the results brought about by a past action: “they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed,” παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ εἰς ὃν πεπιστεύκεισαν (Acts 14:23).

• Consummative Pluperfect: Emphasizes the completion of a past action that brought about the resulting state in the past: “his disciples had gone into town,” οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν (John 4:8).

Because the perfect and pluperfect tenses are not as common as the other tenses (present, imperfect, future, and aorist), they are often significant for interpretation when they occur.

The form includes (1) an augment (on some but not all forms), (2) reduplication, (3) tense formative (-κ), and (4) connecting vowels (-ει): ἐλελύκειν. Here is the full paradigm (which does not need to be memorized) of the pluperfect active indicative:

Again, there are only eighty-six uses of the pluperfect in the New Testament (using twenty-two different verbs), and seventy-nine are found in the active voice.

A. Paradigms: Memorize the perfect active and middle/passive paradigms of λύω (see section 15.4). Then write out each paradigm ten times from memory.

B. Tenses: Identify the tense of the following verbs as Present (P), Imperfect (I), Future (F), Aorist (A), or Perfect (Pf).

C. Parsing: Parse the following words.

1. τετήρηκας

2. ᾐτήκαμεν

3. βέβληται

4. πέποιθα

5. ἠγαπήκαμεν

6. ἀκηκόατε

7. γεγόνασιν

8. εἴληφας

9. εὕρηκα

10. εἰρήκατε

D. Translation: Translate the following sentences.

1. πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρὸς καὶ ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ (Mark 1:15).

2. γέγραπται, Οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ (alone) ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Matt 4:4).

3. Ῥαββί (Rabbi), οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐλήλυθας διδάσκαλος (John 3:2).

4. ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε· ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν, ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία (salvation) ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν (John 4:22).

5. οἶδα πόθεν (from where) ἦλθον καὶ ποῦ (where) ὑπάγω· ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἔρχομαι ἢ ποῦ ὑπάγω (John 8:14).

6. κἀγὼ ἑώρακα καὶ μεμαρτύρηκα ὅτι οὗτός (this one) ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (John 1:34).

7. ἀλλ᾽ εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι καὶ ἑωράκατέ με καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε (John 6:36).

8. πεποίθαμεν δὲ ἐν κυρίῳ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς (2 Thess 3:4).

9. ἐγὼ ἐλήλυθα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετέ με (John 5:43).

10. οὔπω (not yet) γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα (John 20:17).

11. καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐγνώκαμεν καὶ πεπιστεύκαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἔχει ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν (1 John 4:16).

12. ὁ (he) δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ, Θυγάτηρ (Daughter), ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε (Mark 5:34).

13. καὶ ἡμεῖς πεπιστεύκαμεν καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ἅγιος (holy one) τοῦ θεοῦ (John 6:69).

14. καὶ ἔστιν αὕτη (this) ἡ ἀγγελία (message) ἣν ἀκηκόαμεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀναγγέλλομεν (proclaim) ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν (1 John 1:5).

E. Translation: Translate the following sentences into Greek.

1. The scribes have approached the fire.

2. I am persuaded/confident in the power of God.

3. They have seen the blood on his hands and feet.

4. The woman knows the word of light.

5. We live at the mouth of the water.