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In John 1:14, why is the deponent verb ἐγένετο translated as if passive?

Posted: May 25th, 2020, 9:08 am
by Bill Ross
[Jhn 1:14 MGNT] (14) καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας
IE: Taking σὰρξ as "flesh":

"the Utterance made flesh and tented [in it]"

Or, taking σὰρξ as "human," might it not be deponent and be read:

"the Utterance made himself to be human" or "the Utterance became human" or something along those lines?

Re: In John 1:14, why is the deponent verb ἐγένετο translated as if passive?

Posted: May 25th, 2020, 9:31 am
by Barry Hofstetter
Bill, simply looking up γίνομαι in the lexicon would probably answer your question. Most modern translations render it "became." And I wouldn't ever render λόγος as "utterence" in the context of John 1. Our English word "word" much better captures it.

Re: In John 1:14, why is the deponent verb ἐγένετο translated as if passive?

Posted: May 25th, 2020, 11:50 am
by Bill Ross
Okay, thanks.