[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15

Steven Lo Vullo themelios at charter.net
Mon Jan 10 20:18:24 EST 2005


On Jan 10, 2005, at 6:36 AM, Charles Rempel wrote:

> GENHQHTE
>
> Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has 
> said,
> "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His 
> works
> were finished from the foundation of the world.
>
> KAITOI TON ERGON APO KATABOLES KOSMOU GENHQENTON – aorist passive 
> participle
> genitive neuter plural
>
> Ah … the fascinating genitive absolute construction. But still very 
> passive
> in concept. The works did not finish themselves. God finished the 
> works.

Two can play at this game, Charles.

Throughout the course of this thread you have demanded over and over 
again, in practically every post, that the traditionally passive forms 
of GINOMAI must of necessity indicate that some state, condition, or 
result is effected with regard to the subject by an agent. And, on the 
other hand, you have argued that middle semantics would require the 
subject acting upon him/her/itself. You just did it again:

"The works did not finish themselves. God finished the works."

You have denied in a previous post that this simplistic view of the 
middle represents your own understanding of middle semantics, yet your 
argumentation in every case without exception uses this view of the 
middle in an apparent attempt to make the idea that -QH forms of 
GINOMAI may be semantically middle sound nonsensical. So, protestations 
aside, your argument uniformly compares passive with 
subject-acting-upon-itself middle.

With this in mind, let's look at a few examples of my own.

1 Cor 3.13 - hEKASTOU TO ERGON FANERON GENHSETAI, hH GAR hHMERA DHLWSEI

Now please tell me: Per your consistent, robotically repeated argument 
regarding middle semantics, must the middle form GENHSETAI in 1 Cor 
3.13 indicate that the work of each person will make ITSELF known? This 
is evidently not the case, since the very next clause clearly indicates 
that it is "the day" that will reveal it (hH GAR hHMERA DHLWSEI). So 
GENHSETAI, traditionally middle in form, cannot be construed to 
indicate that the subject is acting on itself.

Another example.

1 Cor 16.10 - EAN DE ELQHi TIMOQEOS, BLEPETE, hINA AFOBWS GENHTAI PROS 
hUMAS

Once again we have a traditionally middle form of GINOMAI. So the 
question is, must GENHTAI indicate that Paul wanted Timothy make 
HIMSELF fearless? Hardly. The context indicates that Paul wanted the 
CORINTHIANS to see to it that Timothy dwell among them without fear. 
Once again, we have a traditionally middle form that can in no way be 
construed to indicate the subject acting upon himself.

These examples call into question the very foundation of your argument, 
which over and over again has been that -QH forms of GINOMAI cannot be 
understood as semantically middle because to do so would require 
understanding the subject as acting upon him/her/itself, and this would 
be nonsensical in the given examples. But you can only get away with 
this argument by using a distorted view of middle semantics. If you had 
given a fair representation of the semantic nuances of the middle, it 
would have been immediately obvious to those reading this thread that 
understanding -QH forms as middle in some, or even many, instances is 
in no way nonsensical, whether it is right or wrong. In other words, 
whether or not your CONCLUSION is correct, your ARGUMENT is false 
because it is predicated on a false premise, i.e., that the choice is 
between either a true passive force or a middle force that semantically 
portrays the subject as acting upon him/her/itself. You may deny this, 
but it is what you have done over and over and over again.

One more thing. It will not do to say, as you have earlier, that you do 
not really want to talk about the middle, only the passive, since you 
yourself have based your argument on a comparison between the two, 
though you have distorted middle semantics in your comparisons in order 
to make your argument sound plausible. Your basic argument requires 
that we compare passive and middle semantics, since it is clearly your 
contention that to construe -QH forms of GINOMAI as middle is 
nonsensical. Your basic argument REQUIRES that we talk about middle 
semantics.
============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI



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