Acts 13:48 multiple choice question
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Dec 15 15:48:52 EST 2002
At 7:02 PM +0300 12/15/02, Iver Larsen wrote:
>Richard van den Hengel wrote:
>> Translation B:
>> 1. The idea of predestination to eternal life does not follow from Acts
>> 13:48, for if Luke would have had this intention, the addition hUPO (TOU)
>> QEOU to HSAN TETAGMENOI would have been indispensable (see Romans 13:1:
>> hAI DE OUSAI hUPO QEOU TETAGMENAI EISIN).
>
>This is false argumentation, because you let your theological
>presuppositions override what the Greek text says. Whether or not a hUPO
>phrase is present, the agent for the middle-passive TETAGMENOI is God.
More a footnote than anything else.
Insmuch as this--Richard's question and Iver's response both--seems pretty
evidently a comment on something that I've said, perhaps even what I said
this morning about the so-called "divine passive," let me say (a) that I
have no difficulty with the assumption that the agent for TETAGMENOI in
this instance must be God (TASSEIN is an action that must be performed by
someone, and I wouldn't suppose that TASSEIN EIS ZWHN is the prerogative of
any other than God; (b) I wouldn't think there's any need to classify this
as a "divine passive;" (c) although I worded my principle more loosely at
the outset, what I've tried to say pretty carefully more recently is: use
of a middle-passive form in Greek seems intended to focus upon the
event/action/occurrence itself rather than upon the responsible agent or
instrument; if it was deemed important by the speaker/writer to denote the
agent or instrument, the standard agent and instrumental constructions
would usually, though not necessarily always, be employed.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list