[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15"

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Dec 31 11:45:39 EST 2004


Re: 

I gather from your subject-header change that you don't want to talk about the
middle voice but solely about the proper translation of 1 Peter 1:15.

At 8:57 AM -0600 12/31/04, Charles Rempel wrote:
>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.

You're welcome to examine them one by one and seek to demonstrate that every
form of of the aorist "passive" stem GENHQH- really is passive in meaning, but
I'm dubious of the very enterprise. In the paper that I've indicated in my
previous post (http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/Docs/NewObsAncGrkVc.pdf) I have
examined over several pages (15-21) the question whether there really is any
distinction in meaning between -QH- forms of GINOMAI and corresponding forms
with middle-voice endings. I couldn't find any convincing difference in usage:
some senses of GINOMAI that one might consider "passive" (e.g. "be made") appear
as commonly in middle-voice forms as in the -QH- forms, while other senses that
really should be considered "middle" are found also in -QH- forms in the GNT.

>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.
>
>GENHQHTW hH TRAPEZA - aorist passive imperative 3s

That is of course what almost any GNT parsing system will give you: the FORM of
GENNHQHTW is "passive" because all forms with -QH- are parsed as passive. This
tells you nothing at all about the semantic voice of GENNHQHTW. I do wish that
the parsing systems would be wholly consistent and mark all
MAI/SAI/TAI;MHN/SO/TO forms as "middle" and all -QH- forms as
"passive"--although I've suggested that it would really be more accurate to
marks the MAI/SAI/TAI;MHN/SO/TO forms as "MP1" and the -QH- forms as "MP2" on
grounds that BOTH morphoparadigms may in any given context be understood as
either middle or passive in meaning.

>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.

Yes, God is the one in verse 8 who has hardened the hearts of his enemies, but I
don't see that this affects the reading of GENNHQHTW in Rom 11:9 to be passive;
I'd prefer to English the line in question "May their table prove to be a
delusive trap" or "May their table FUNCTION as a delusive trap."

I readily grant that GENNHQHTW (or GENESQW as well) may function as a passive in
a given instance. A common instance of GENESQW in a passive sense is Mt 6:10
GENHQHTW TO QELHMA SOU, commonly Englished as "thy will be done." On the other
hand John 1:3 reads PANTA DI' AUTOU EGENETO which could be Englished as a
passive: "All things were made by him" or as a passive "All things came into
being through him." Had the author written PANTA DI' AUTOU EGENHQH I don't think
there'd be a whit of difference.

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/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list