εἶπον, (eipon) in John 1:30: Verb First Person Singular Second Aorist Active Indicative
εἶπον, (eipon) in John 1:30
Textual Witness
The witness reads εἶπον in John 1:30 within the phrase περὶ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον, and the form is anchored in the textus-receptus tradition cited here.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form strengthens the sense of remembered witness by tying the statement to John's own earlier speech, while leaving the larger meaning to the full clause.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation notes, this form can be summarized as 'I said' or 'I spoke,' with the focus on John's prior testimony about Jesus.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- First person singular identifies the speaker here, but it should not be pressed beyond the clause's witness function.
- Do not make grammatical form carry doctrinal claims that are not present in the verse itself.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an action of speaking or saying, and here it marks a spoken assertion in the clause.
Second Aorist: commonly views the action as a whole event. It should not be treated as automatically punctiliar or automatically past in every context.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Indicative: presents the verbal idea as an assertion or statement in the clause.
First person: the speaker or speakers are grammatically involved in the verbal form.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Singular: the form is first person singular, so the speaker is presenting the saying as his own single act.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
περὶ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον
The form is governed by the speaking frame introduced by ἐγὼ, so it identifies John as the one who said the earlier words.
It functions as the main verb of the reported speech reference, linking the witness to the earlier statement about the one who comes after him.
It is not a noun, adjective, or standalone title, and it does not itself introduce a new subject beyond the speaker already present.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The verb recalls John's earlier testimony about the one coming after him.
First-person second aorist active indicative speech verb. reports John's prior saying as the basis for the present identification. Attached to John's earlier statement about the one coming after him. Governed by the witness statement in John 1:30. The speech verb recalls the testimony; the quoted statement identifies the one John means.
What does John connect this saying to? He connects it to his earlier statement about the one who comes after him.
Direct: The first-person aorist directly supports English wording such as "I said."
The verb reports the act of saying; the theological force is in the remembered testimony.
Aorist speech verb proves a special once-for-all testimony category: The aorist reports the saying; the content and context define the testimony.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads εἶπον in John 1:30 within the phrase περὶ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον, and the form is anchored in the textus-receptus tradition cited here.
The lemma is λέγω, which commonly means to say or speak, so the form carries the idea of spoken testimony rather than a different lexical sense.
The first person singular form fits the explicit ἐγὼ and shows that the speaker is recalling his own prior declaration about the coming one.
In context, the form supports John the Baptist's self-testimony: he identifies Jesus as the one he had already spoken of.
The grammar aligns with the verse's repeated witness language, where prior speech and present identification work together to confirm the testimony.
For readers and teachers, the form helps show that the verse is not abstract description but a remembered declaration from a personal witness.
Do not derive extra theology from tense or person alone, and do not treat the verb form as overriding the surrounding sentence or clause flow.