[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15")
Charles Rempel
CharlesR at mygalaxyexpress.com
Fri Dec 31 09:57:27 EST 2004
CWC:
... it leaves completely unanswered why a form such as GENHQHTE is
semantically equivalent to
the more erstwhile more common form GENESQE, why this verb has no authentic
active form at all, unless one considers the cognate GENNAW. ... But is the
sense of GENHQHTE in 1 Peter 1:15 AUTOI hAGIOI EN PASHi ANASTROFHi GENHQHTE
really "active"? What is the sense of GENHQHHTE here? "Become" doesn't
really work very well; "Be holy" is a little better English but still not
really good; "Become holy"? No. The sense is really something like "make
yourselves holy" or "sanctify yourselves" or "show yourselves as being
holy."
CDR:
I would suggest that perhaps a better translation would be "Allow yourselves
to be made holy." combining the passive with the imperative. Why passive? I
would suggest that if every other usage of this form is passive in sense
then this should likewise be passive in sense.
Let's start by considering the other usages. I will post one per day with
comments.
Romans 11:9 And David says, "LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND
A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.
Genhqh,tw h` tra,peza - aorist passive imperative 3s
The "table" is not becoming something by itself, but rather something is
being done to the "table" which causes it to become a snare and a trap. The
active agent in verse 8 is God.
Charles D. Rempel
30 year student
Without Portfolio
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