[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Jan 6 14:03:59 EST 2005
At 10:45 AM -0600 1/6/05, Charles Rempel wrote:
>GFS: How are these passive? What is the subject which is being acted upon?
>It is not the centurion, surely? The servant? I think not. This is rather
>an impersonal construction "Let it happen."
>
>CDR: My question then becomes "What is it?" Does it refer to healing? And if
>so, is it not Jesus who does the healing?
>
>You might note that in the LXX this is precisely the term used
>
>GFS: KAI EIPEN hO QEOS, "GENHQHTW FWS." KAI EGENETO FWS.
>
>Gen 1.3
>
>CDR: Is not the subject "light"? Did the light act upon itself? Or did God
>cause light to manifest itself?
Well, if the event that occurred/happened/was performed (however you prefer
to express it) is expressed by EGENETO, which is manifestly the "middle"
form, then why isn't it EGENHQH?
My own point, if it isn't quite obvious, is that these forms would bear the
same semantic force, whether we interpret it as middle or as passive
semantically, if the forms were GENESQW ... EGENETO or GENHQHTW ...
EGENHQH. Both forms may bear either middle or passive semantic
interpretation.
And the middle sense of EGENETO FWS is NOT that "light did something to
itself" but that "light came into being." The middle voice does not require
ACTION OF THE GRAMMATICAL SUBJECT UPON ITSELF; rather it involves
INVOLVEMENT OF THE GRAMMATICAL SUBJECT IN A PROCESS, WHETHER VOLUNTARY OR
INVOLUNTARY. It seems to me that much of the rejection of middle semantics
for the GENHQH- forms lies in a notion that the middle voice must mean
direct reflexive action of the grammatical subject upon itself. But the
middle voice does not require that the grammatical subject be consciously,
deliberately PERFORMING an action.
--
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