[B-Greek] Middle voice or Intensive

dhoxworth at charter.net dhoxworth at charter.net
Tue Feb 10 11:19:57 EST 2004


><Mitch>
> IHSOUS AUTOS OUK EBAPTIZEN ALL' hOI MAQHTAI OUTOU
> 
> Can someone explain to me the difference between an
> Intensive pronoun usage and a Middle voice usage. I am
> having a hard time distinguishing them in my mind.
> 
> Intensive: Jesus himself did not baptize
> Middle: Jesus ??? 

<doug>
i'm not sure exactly what you mean by a middle voice usage of AUTOS but if you're asking what i think you're asking, a middle voice usage of a pronoun might be: Jesus did not baptize himself (though i don't think "himself" would be AUTOS here, so the sentence could not be translated that way). the intensive pronoun emphasizes that it was JESUS who did not baptize and not anyone else (of the disciples).  a middle voice, depending on how you understand the middle voice, if a pronoun was used could be taken in a number of ways. but the function of the pronoun in these cases would be completely different (e.g., one to emphasize or intensify the subject and the other to perhaps speak of interest).

Doug Hoxworth
MABTS Candidate at Luther Rice Seminary




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