Acts 2:2 rushing breath?
Mark Wilson
emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Sun Oct 13 10:47:03 EDT 2002
Iver:
You wrote:
--------
>I have a question on the passive participle in this verse:
>
>KAI EGENETO AFNW EK TOU OURANOU HKOS hWSPER FEROMENHS PNOHS BIAIAS
>
>The sound - HKOS - is the subject which is compared to the sound of a
>strong/violent breath. The genitive FEROMENHS modifies PNOHS, but why is it
>passive and what is the meaning of the word FERW here? Most English
>translations take it in an active sense like rushing, blowing, driving,
>roaring.
>
>Is it at all possible that it could be construed with EK TOU OURANOU? In
>that case I would understand it as "being brought from heaven" and the
>source or origin of the wind would be fronted in order to focus on the
>source of this unusual sound.
-----
I would think the answer to your last question here is Yes. This "wind"
was sent by God (EK TOU OURANOU). And on the issue of Middle Voice,
I have this in my notes:
"But in many other passages of Classical Greek
sentences with passive verbs portray the subject as not strictly passive
but rather receiving, accepting or admitting the action into its (the
subject's) proper sphere. This suggests a middle or intransitive force in
the verb. This meaning should not really be surprising because there do
not seem to be any originally or properly passive forms in the
conjugation of Classical Greek." (Attic Greek Prose Syntax by Cooper)
"The origins of the passive forms as middles or intransitives are
reflected often in Classical usage even of the Attic period....Just as
forms in -(Q)HN are used as middles, so also middle forms are used as
passives..."
"The middle voice denotes that the subject is in some especial manner
involved or interested in the action of the verb."
"The middle voice may be used to show that the faculties and resources
of the subject, all thought of as pertaining naturally to it and lying
within its natural sphere, are mobilized, energized, and applied. In
these uses the subject is displayed as EXERTING ITSELF, WORKING AND
DRAWING ADJACENT CONCEPTIONS INTO ITS OWN SPHERE OF CONTROL AND
EFFECTIVENESS. This range of the middle has been called appropriately,
the dynamic middle." (EMPHASIS added)
Also, I thought someone (Carl?) used the expression "self-propelling"
when describing the Middle Voice (intransitive). I like that idea
sense it communicates the fact that the Middle is often subject-intensive.
Some thoughts,
Mark Wilson
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