[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15

Jim West jwest at highland.net
Mon Dec 27 14:11:13 EST 2004


At 02:01 PM 12/27/2004, you wrote:
>There is an aorist imperative in this verse, GENHQHTW, translated with an 
>active sense - "become".  There are 8 other aorist uses of  imperatives of 
>this verb in the NT (all obviously deponent) but they seem to hold mostly 
>a middle or passive sense (Matt. 6:10; 8:13; 9:29; 15:28; 26:42; Acts 
>1:20; Rom. 11:9; 1 Co. 3:18) other than the last one.  Would one be 
>justified in seeing this passage as more middle or passive, and less active?

The verbal form is indeed passive imperative.  It is imperative because a 
command; hence, it must be understood in an active sense (since its not 
really possible to command an act and then do so in such a way that the 
act-or is passive).  At any rate, the form is passive, as already 
mentioned- but it is originally a middle / passive verb and hence while 
passive in form it can indeed be active in function; as it is here.

Best

Jim



++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD

http://web.infoave.net/~jwest Biblical Studies Resources
http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com Biblical Theology Weblog





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