[B-Greek] passive mood vs. active mood with a reflexive pronoun
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Oct 27 10:15:36 EDT 2006
On Oct 26, 2006, at 10:11 PM, Wayne Kerrigan wrote:
> John seems to use the active verb with a reflexive pronoun to
> signify that the subject
> is also the object of the verb (Jn. 2:24). The Bible refers to
> Christ as having been raised by the Father; could this also be
> implied in John's usage of the passive verb in John 2:22, which
> literally reads, "When he was raised from the dead"?
Texts (since our discussion concerns the Greek, we really MUST have
these texts in front of our eyes):
2:24 AUTOS DE IHSOUS OUK EPISTEUSEN AUTON AUTOIS DIA TO AUTON
GINWSKEIN PANTAS.
2:22 hOTE OUN HGERQH EK NEKRWN, EMNHSQHSAN hOI MAQHTAI AUTOU hOTI
TOUTO ELEGEN, KAI EPISTEUSAN THi GRAFHi KAI TWi LOGWi hON EIPEN hO
IHSOUS.
Of course, "active" and "passive" are not "moods" but are usually
termed "voices," although the Greek term DIAQESEIS "dispositions" or
"relative positions (of subject, object, etc.)" is probably a more
appropriate descriptive name.
I think there's some confusion here about the voices and voice usage.
Long-term list-members know very well that this doesn't surprise me
because I think that voice is one of the least-understood and most
poorly-taught feature of the Greek verbal system. I would recommend
my "introduction to Ancient Greek Voice" (http://www.ioa.com/
~cwconrad/UndAncGrkVc.pdf); my current thinking about ancient Greek
voice may be found at http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/GrkVc.html
(a) John 2:24. The verb PISTEUW in biblical Koine well illustrates
the need to grasp the idiomatic usage of particular verbs rather than
to rely upon a two- or three-word gloss for meaning. There is a
lengthy entry in BDAG for PISTEUW; the usage of this verb in John
2:24 is down in #3. "entrust" TI TINI. The usage of the verb with a
reflexive pronoun "trust oneself to someone" is not uncommon; the
BDAG article is worth reading in its entirety, especially inasmuch as
this verb is so important and ranges over a breadth of usage in the
GNT. It should be noted that the "middle" voice ordinarily indicates
the involvement of the subject in the process of the verb and only
very rarely that the subject is also a direct object.
(b) John 2:22 The verb HGERQH is not really passive; the form is the
middle-passive of EGEIROMAI, "awake," "rise up." EGEIROMAI really
ought to be seen as the primary form of this verb whereas the active
EGEIRW is essentially a causative form of EGEIROMAI: "awaken," "make
to rise up." There is no aorist "middle" form EGEIRAMHN and the older
second-aorist HGROMHN that is found in Homer is obsolete, having been
replaced by HGERQHN. The HGERQHN must be understood as the middle-
passive aorist equivalent of the middle-passive present EGEIROMAI.
Although HGERQHN -- or HGERQH, the form in John 2:22 -- may be
understood as a passive when clearly indicated to be such by context
or by an instrumental dative or hUPO + genitive agent construction,
it ought ordinarily to be understood as an intransitive aorist
indicating that the subject is engaged in a process.
Two third-person aorist verbs are commonly used in the GNT to state
the resurrection of Jesus: ANESTH from ANISTAMAI and EGERQH from
EGEIROMAI. There is no semantic difference between HGERQH and ANESTH.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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