[B-Greek] Romans 1:11 STHRICQHNAI hUMAS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Mar 26 20:47:22 EST 2003


At 5:35 PM -0600 3/26/03, David Bielby wrote:
>Quick question...why is STHRICQHNAI labeled Aorist Passive here?  Could this
>be some sort of deponent or middle?  Or is passive inherent in the meaning?

Text: EPIPOQW GAR IDEIN hUMAS, hINA TI METADW CARISMA hUMIN PNEUMATIKON EIS
TO STHRICQHNAI hUMAS.

Well, pretty clearly it is Paul who wants to share something with those
whom he's addressing; in the EIS + articular-infinitive phrase, which here
surely expresses purpose, I think that hUMAS must be the subject of
STHRICQHNAI; the verb means "make firm"--and in fact it's an -IZW verb, the
sort of verb which when used with an adjectival stem means "cause to be x."
The sense is "make firm" or "solidify." Paul's intention is that something
should happen to the members of the Roman congregation as a consequence of
what he imparts. Yes, I'd say it's passive. Of course -QH- forms are termed
aorist passive in standard reference grammars, although I've endeavored to
show that they ought to be understood as inherently middle OR passive just
like the MAI/SAI/TAI; MHN/SO/TO forms. There are 13 instances of this verb
in the GNT, 10 are active, the other 3 are all, I'd say, authentically
passive. In several of the other GNT passages in which the verb appears in
Pauline letters, it is in a very similar context where he's speaking about
strengthening either his listeners/readers or their hearts: Luke 9:51;
16:26;  22:32; Rom. 1:11; 16:25; 1 Th. 3:2; 3:13; 2 Th. 2:17;  3:3;   James
5:8; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:12; Rev. 3:2
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/


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