[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15

kgraham0938 at comcast.net kgraham0938 at comcast.net
Thu Jan 6 13:18:06 EST 2005


Hi Kelton,

Response: Hey Charles how is it going?

Charles:One of the things which we struggle with in understanding the Greek language
is in applying our English logic to Greek thought and that brings wrong
results. Any particular author could actually apply any one of the voices to
his topic and be perfectly correct in doing so without misrepresenting the
actions which occur. As exegetes it is our responsibility to bring out the
veiwpoint which is expressed. Your observations may be correct, but they
don't explain the passive voice.

Are you infering, or hypothesizing, that all imperatives used to express a
request are in the passive voice?

Response: No not really, I just think that the aorist imperative whether active or passive point more towards a request.  The problem I am having is twofold

A.  God's will in my view is always active (because he accomplishes his will no matter what).  But now that I thought about it, the only way that I can figure that God's will be passive, based upon what I read from you and others is that his will is being done by others.

So just as the angels in heaven are doing his will, the hope of the believer is that those on earth are doing his will.  It is just when I think of God's will, I think of it as being dominant.  I wrote a paper on it.

B. From a grammatical standpoint the problem is found in Luke 15:6 SUGCARHTE MOI.  This seems to be an aorist passive as well, but it is not pointing to someone else making them rejoice.  But rather it is pointing to a request.  That is why I stated earlier that maybe the aorist imperative is pointing more towards a request rather than focusing on voice.

So looking at this an going back to Matt 6:10 I noticed that maybe the aorist passive imperative is pointing more towards a request as oppose to God's will being passive.  Since my theology teaches me that God decrees all and accomplishes his will.




--
Kelton Graham
KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net


> Kelton:  Hello Charles, I understand what you are saying here but I don't
> think I'd agree with your end result here.
> 
> I don't know how you feel about Wallace, but he labels this particular
> aorist passive as that of a request.  Under definition he writes
> 
> " The imperative is often used to express a request.  This is normally seen
> when the speaker is addessing a superior."
> 
> 
> So he translates is as " Let your kingdom come." (ELQETW), let your will be
> done. (GENHQHTW)
> 
> So, I don't think God is dependent upon us to do his will for him, rather
> the aorist passive is indicating a request.  God's will, will take place no
> matter what.
> 
> Kelton Graham
> 
> Hi Kelton,
> 
> One of the things which we struggle with in understanding the Greek language
> is in applying our English logic to Greek thought and that brings wrong
> results. Any particular author could actually apply any one of the voices to
> his topic and be perfectly correct in doing so without misrepresenting the
> actions which occur. As exegetes it is our responsibility to bring out the
> veiwpoint which is expressed. Your observations may be correct, but they
> don't explain the passive voice.
> 
> Are you infering, or hypothesizing, that all imperatives used to express a
> request are in the passive voice?
> 
> Charles
> 
> ---
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> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
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