From the Series: ABCs for Christian Growth--Laying the Foundation
There are some today who maintain that the New
Testament Greek has abandoned the classical use of the middle voice in
which the subject is acting in relation to himself or itself in some
way. Such a view undermines the argument, in part, at least presented by
Ryrie. For instance, in a footnote Bill Mounce writes:
Many grammars say the middle is “reflexive,” but we are
uncomfortable with the term. The “direct reflexive” was common in
Classical Greek but not in Koine. The only one in the New Testament is
at Matt 27:5, but Moule (
Idiom Book, 24) disputes even this one.249
In another footnote he writes:
A good example of the problems caused by assuming that the classical use of the middle is always present is found in 1 Corinthians 13:8, where Paul says that the gifts of tongues “will cease” (
pauvsontai). It is argued by some … Paul is saying the gift of tongues will cease in and of itself.
Regardless of one’s views on the topic of spiritual
gifts, we feel this is an incorrect use of the middle. It assumes that
the middle here has the classical usage, even though
BAGD lists no self-interest meaning for the middle of
pauvw. And when one looks at
the other eight occurrences of the verb, it is seen that the verb is a
middle deponent and not reflexive. The best example is in Luke 8:24, where Jesus calmed the sea. “Jesus rebuked the wind and calmed the water, and
they ceased and became calm” …
The wind and water certainly did not “cease” in and of themselves. The
middle of this verb does not designate “self-interest”; it is deponent
(deponent means the verb is middle or passive in form, but active in
meaning).250 (Emphasis mine.)
But Mounce’s arguments, and those of others, are unwarranted and simply do not fit all the facts. In
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament,
Dan Wallace does an excellent job of answering the arguments that deny
the force of the middle voice in the New Testament and especially in 1 Corinthians 8:13. Wallace writes:
One’s view of the nature of NT Greek has strong
implications for this use of the middle voice. If one thinks that NT
Greek has abandoned the rules of classical Greek, then h/she would not
put much emphasis on the force of the middle voice in a given passage.
Moule, for example, argues that “as a rule, it is far from easy to come
down from the fence with much decisiveness on either side in an
exegetical problem if it depends on the voice” (Moule,
Idiom Book, 24).
However, if one thinks that the NT Greek has, for the
most part, retained the rules of classical Greek, then he/she will see
more significance in the use of the middle voice. On this side of the
fence, Zerwick writes: “The ‘
indirect’ use of the middle
voice … especially shows the writer to have retained a feeling for even
the finer distinctions between the sense of active and middle forms”
(Zerwick,
Biblical Greek, 75).
It is our contention that a careful examination of the
usage of a particular middle voice verb in Hellenistic Greek will shed
light on how much can be made of the voice. What is frequently at stake,
grammatically speaking, is whether the middle is to be considered
indirect or deponent …251
In discussing debatable and exegetically significant texts, Wallace has this to say about 1 Corinthians 13:8:
If the voice of the verb is significant, then Paul is
saying either that tongues will cut themselves off (direct middle) or,
more likely, cease of their own accord, i.e., “die out” without an
intervening agent (indirect middle). It may be significant that with
reference to prophecy and knowledge, Paul used a different verb (
katargevw) and put it in the
passive voice. In vss. 9-10, the argument continues: “for we
know in part and we
prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial shall be done away {
katarghqhvsontai}.” Here
again, Paul uses the same passive verb he had used with prophecy and
knowledge and he speaks of the verbal counterpart to the nominal
“prophecy” and “knowledge.” Yet he does
not speak about
tongues being done away “when the perfect comes.” The implication
may be that tongues were to have “died out” of their own
before the perfect comes. The
middle voice in this text, then, must be wrestled with if one is to come
to any conclusions about when tongues would cease.
The dominant opinion among NT scholars today, however is that
pauvsontai is not an indirect middle. The argument is that
pauvw in the future is
deponent, and that the change in verbs is merely stylistic. If so, then
this text makes no comment about tongues ceasing on their own, apart
from the intervention of “the perfect.” There are three arguments
against the deponent view, however. First, if
pauvsontai is deponent, then the second principal part (future form) should not occur in the
active voice in Hellenistic Greek. But it does, and it does so frequently. Hence, the verb
cannot be considered deponent. Second, sometimes Luke 8:24 is brought into the discussion: Jesus rebuked the wind and sea and they
ceased (
ejpauvsanto, aorist middle)
from their turbulence. The argument is that inanimate objects cannot
cease of their own accord; therefore, the middle of
pauvw is equivalent to a
passive. But this is a misunderstanding of the literary features of the
passage; If the wind and sea cannot cease voluntarily, why does Jesus
rebuke them? And why do the disciples speak of the wind and sea as having
obeyed Jesus? The elements are personified in Luke 8 and their ceasing from turbulence is therefore presented as volitional obedience to Jesus. If anything, Luke 8:23 supports the indirect middle view. Third, the idea of a deponent verb is that it is middle in form, but
active in meaning. But
pauvsontai is surrounded by
passives in 1 Cor 13:8, not actives. The real force of
pauvw in the middle is
intransitive, while in the
active it is transitive. In the active it has the force of stopping some
other object; in the middle, it ceases from its own activity.
In sum, the deponent view is based on some faulty assumptions as to the labeling of
pauvsontai as deponent, the parallel in Luke 8:24, and even the meaning of deponency. Paul seems to be making a point that is more than stylistic in his shift in verbs … 252
Obviously, this does not tell us when tongues will
cease, but it certainly gives credibility to Ryrie’s argument as
expressed earlier, and it answers the arguments of those who try to deny
the force of the middle voice of the Greek text in 1 Corinthians 13:8.
249 William Mounce,
Basics of Biblical Greek, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1993, p. 224.
250 Ibid.
251 Daniel B. Wallace,
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1996, p. 420.
252 Wallace, p. 422.
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