OT in NT (5b): Examples — Matt 13:14 || Mark 4:12 || Luke 8:10 || Acts 28:26; Romans 9:33/10:11
What follows here are some examples that deal with the presence or proximity of the kingdom of God.
Matthew 13:14 || Mark 4:12 || Luke 8:10 || Acts 28:26
Πορεύθητι καὶ εἰπὸν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε·
Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive.
Isaiah 6:9
ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε.
You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive.
Matthew 13:14
ἵνα βλέποντες βλέπωσιν καὶ μὴ ἴδωσιν, καὶ ἀκούοντες ἀκούωσιν καὶ μὴ συνιῶσιν,
they may look and look, yet not perceive; they may listen and listen, yet not understand;
Mark 4:12
βλέποντες μὴ βλέπωσιν καὶ ἀκούοντες μὴ συνιῶσιν.
Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
Luke 8:10
πορεύθητι πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον καὶ εἰπόν· ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε·
You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive.
Acts 28:26
Isaiah’s cleansing experience in chapter 6 contains 2 singular imperatives (passive πορεύθητι, active εἰπὸν), which are repeated verbatim in Acts 28:26 but omitted in the three gospel accounts. The content of the message Isaiah is to relay to the people, however, is present in all four NT instances, although altered in a number of ways.
Mark moves both the future indicatives (ἀκούσετε, βλέψετε) and aorist subjunctives (συνῆτε, ἴδητε) to present subjunctive forms. In fact, Mark’s version is constituted entirely of present forms, both participial and finite, and is thus a marked change from the perfective aspect of Isaiah’ original. Luke 8:10 contains the most terse re-working of the original, retaining the participle βλέποντες and substituting a parallel present participle ἀκούοντες for ἀκοῇ. The aorist active subjunctive συνῆτε has been altered to a present active subjunctive συνιῶσιν, with a parallel present form of βλεπω replacing the ἴδητε of Isaiah 6:9.
Mark and Luke are therefore characterised by their use of imperfective aspect. Jesus’ use of this quotation assists in discerning why this is the case. His explanation of the response of the crowds is privately to the disciples. Their dullness is not remote to them: the blindness and deafness of those who hear the parables is something that is present before their eyes. They are witnesses to that process. For Isaiah the Israelites were a rebellious people (as a whole), and the message he was to bring them was something that he was warned they would reject. In this original instance, the perfective aspect views this rejection in its entirety. The contrast in Mark and Luke, however, is that there are two separate responses to the one speaking God’s words. The crowds are deaf and blind, as were the people in Isaiah’s day, but those to whom the secrets of the kingdom of heaven are given can hear and see.[1] The rebellious nature of the people in Jesus’ day is not total, for there are some who hear and understand, and this is visibly unfolding before the disciple’s eyes. The use of the imperfective aspect thus mirrors the content of Jesus’ explanation.
Why then do Matthew and Acts retain the original perfective verb forms? In Matthew the citation is clearly introduced as such (καὶ ἀναπληροῦται αὐτοῖς ἡ προφητεία Ἠσαΐου ἡ λέγουσα, Matt 13:14). The same contrast outlined above, however, is drawn in the explanation that follows, where similar present forms identify the disciples as those who hear and see and are blessed (Matt 13:16).[2] The situation of Isaiah is also drawn on explicitly in Acts, where Paul draws a direct parallel between the Jews who do not listen to the gospel he proclaims and stubborn Israel.
Romans 9:33/10:11
καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ.
the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 28:16
καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.
the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.
Romans 9:33
πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.
No one who believes on Him will be put to shame.
Romans 10:11
The aspect/mood alteration (aorist subjunctive to future indicative) does not involve a significant change in sense, rather it’s just an alternative means of expression. Perfective aspect is retained, and future temporal reference is made explicit. This explicit tense is important for Romans 9 as Paul considers the history of Israel in light of the present salvation of Gentiles. Romans 10:11 is similar, albeit from the other side of the question, and cites 9:33 identically.
The Israelites pursued righteousness as if it could be attained by works, but in so doing stumbled over the stone laid before them (Rom 9:31). For this reason Paul quotes Isaiah with a future tense form, presenting his prophecy as explicitly pointing forward to the situation of Paul’s day. Israel’s failure to attain to the righteousness by faith the Gentiles have is therefore, according to Paul, a fulfilment of prophecy.[3] Their exclusion from God’s people as a result of the gospel is not a departure from the OT.[4]
[1] Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1–9:50 (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996), 727–29. ↩
[2] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Pillar New Testament Commentary Series; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 343; cf also. Bock, Luke 1:1–9:50, 729. ↩
[3] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series; Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 541. ↩
[4] Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 630. ↩
