[B-Greek] Dr. Wallace on Acts 13.48

Timothy Mitchell taztimmitchell at hotmail.com
Sun Aug 2 02:29:35 EDT 2009


I think that the middle makes the best sense of the passage in context. My explanation will not make much sense if not following along with your Bible open in front of you. In the passage in Acts 13, Paul was visiting a synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia and Paul was then asked to speak something to them, Acts 13:14-16. Paul then gives an account of Jewish history and Jesus as savior, and Him raising from the dead and salvation being through Him, Acts 13:16-41. A thing to note here is that there are non-Jewish proselytes here, mentioned in 13:26, 42. It is the Gentiles who wanted Paul to come back and preach more, 13:42, so he did. Next the whole city came, 13:44 and Paul preached again, but the Jews opposed Paul's teaching, 13:45. It was after this that Paul mentions that "it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to [the Jews] you first, but sense you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles," 13:46-47. It is in this context that Acts 13:48 is then stated, "KAI EPISTEUSAN hOSOI HSAN TETAGMENOI." I think contextually it is referring to those Gentiles who had been previously persuaded of the truth of Jesus, as in 13:42, but did not realize that the salvation (eternal life) was also available to them until Paul's words in 13:46-47. It was when they realized eternal life was available to them as well, that they believed and accepted the truth of salvation for themselves. This makes the most sense of the passage to me. Why would Luke all of a sudden, in the middle of a historical narrative, dive deep into theological doctrine? 
This verb is sometimes used to mean "appointing oneself," note 1 Corinthians 16:15, 

PARAKALW DE hUMAS ADELFOI OIDATE THN OIKIAN STEFANA hOTI ESTIN APARXH THS AXAIAS KAI EIS DIAKONIAN TOIS hAGIOIS ETAXAN hEAUTOS

ETAXAN is translated as "devoted themselves" in the NKJ and NASB.

The only reason to take TETAGMENOI as a "divine passive" in Acts 13:48 is to be persuaded by a prior theological doctrine, not from anything contextually or grammatically. Middle is just as possible, more likely, I feel in the context.


> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 22:46:19 -0700
> From: lightmanmark at yahoo.com
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org; qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Dr. Wallace on Acts 13.48
> 
> Richard, what makes you think it's middle 
> and not passive?
> 
> Mark L
> 
> 
> FWSFOROS MARKOS
> 
> --- On Sat, 8/1/09, Richard Ghilardi <qodeshlayhvh at juno.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: Richard Ghilardi <qodeshlayhvh at juno.com>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Dr. Wallace on Acts 13.48
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Saturday, August 1, 2009, 10:18 PM
> 
> 
> Hello Folks,
> 
> This verse simply means,
> 
> "All who were ready for eternal life believed."
> 
> This meaning accords best with:
> A) the middle voice
> B) the context
> C) good English usage
> 
> Yours in His grace,
> 
> Richard Ghilardi - qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
> West Haven, Connecticut USA
> 
> =========================================================================
> ========
> 
> On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 19:40:15 -0700 (PDT) Mark Lightman
> <lightmanmark at yahoo.com> writes:
> > Mitch egrapsed:  
> >  
> > <Dr. Wallace, no doubt a very good grammarian, neglects
> >  to see all the options here, and I am wondering if this has
> >  to do again with his Calvinistic lens through which he sees a 
> > text.
> > 
> > What other observations can be made of KAI EPISTEUSAN
> >  hOSOI HSAN TETAGMENOI and how else could it this
> >  clause be translated?>
> >  
> > Tip toe through the T.U.L.I.P. with Dr. Wallace, through the
> > tulips...
> >  
> > Hi Mitch,
> >  
> > L.S.J. says "Thucydides uses the Med., 'to fall in, to form in order 
> > of
> > battle...'ES MACHN, 2:20..."   "As many as fell in line for eternal 
> > life." 
> > TASSW does not have to mean "appoint" and then the middle is not 
> > exactly
> > "nonsense."  "As many as set themselves in position for eternal
> > life.  As many as got drawn up, as many as were fixed for eternal
> > life, as many as took up their post at eternal life"  But I think 
> > this is clearly a divine
> > passive.  Because UPO THEOU is obviously implied but in fact
> > omitted, you CAN (just barely) take it as some sort of middle,
> > but you sure don't have to be a Calvinist to see this as a
> > "vanilla passive," to quote one of my favorite grammarians.
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > 
> > Mark L
> > 
> > 
> > FWSFOROS MARKOS
> > 
> > --- On Sat, 8/1/09, Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com> 
> > wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > From: Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
> > Subject: [B-Greek] Dr. Wallace on Acts 13.48
> > To: "B- Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Date: Saturday, August 1, 2009, 7:56 PM
> > 
> > 
> > AKOUONTA DE TA EQNH ECAIRON KAI EDOXOZON TON LOGON TOU KURIOU, KAI 
> > EPISTEUSAN hOSOI HSAN TETAGMENOI EIS ZWHN AIWNION
> > 
> > I think Dr. Daniel Wallace, at least to me, may be the first 
> > grammarian to produce a grammar book from a distinctly theological 
> > viewpoint, namely, Calvinism. Even though Dr. Wallace is not known 
> > as a Theological scholar, he does indirectly speak to these issues 
> > through his grammar works. Here are some of his comments on Acts 
> > 13.48 taken from bible.org (which are pretty close to his treatment 
> > of this passage in GGBB):
> > 
> > --------
> > Acts 13:48 is indeed a strong verse on God's sovereign choice of 
> > those who would be saved. The verb TETAGMENOI does not occur in Acts 
> > 20:13, but the aorist form of it does occur in Acts 29:23. There, 
> > the middle voice is indeed used and is translated like an active 
> > verb. However, the aorist has a distinct middle form that is 
> > different from the passive form. The perfect tense, found in Acts 
> > 13:48, does not. Context, lexeme, and usage are key. In 1 Cor 16:15, 
> > an active voice verb is used. So, neither of these texts offers a 
> > real parallel to Acts 13:48. The problem with taking the verb in 
> > Acts 13:48 as a middle is that it would have to be a direct middle 
> > (the idea would be 'they appointed themselves'), which is nonsense 
> > in this context and is extremely rare of a usage overall. I know of 
> > no linguistic ground for overturning the traditional translation 
> > here.
> > --------
> > 
> > Dr. Wallace, no doubt a very good grammarian, neglects to see all 
> > the options here, and I am wondering if this has to do again with 
> > his Calvinistic lens through which he sees a text.
> > 
> > What other observations can be made of KAI EPISTEUSAN hOSOI HSAN 
> > TETAGMENOI and how else could it this clause be translated? 
> > 
> > Mitch Larramore
> > Augusta, GA
> > 
> > 
> >       
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> > 
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