- Jun 29, 2016
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Acts 13:48 reads: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed."
Ἀκούοντα δὲ τὰ ἔθνη ἔχαιρον καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐπίστευσαν ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον·
All major translations render τεταγμένοι as passive: "were appointed."
Yet some individuals argue for a middle sense: "had disposed themselves toward eternal life," making the verb about human readiness rather than divine appointment.
Grammatically, τεταγμένοι is the perfect participle of τάσσω, whose perfect middle and passive forms are identical in spelling (hence the debate). The surrounding construction (ἦσαν τεταγμένοι) is a perfect periphrastic, a construction that emphasizes the state resulting from a prior completed action. In other words, when the Gentiles hear the gospel, they are already "in the state of having been appointed." The narrative logic naturally runs: divine appointment precedes and explains belief.
If Luke had intended a reflexive nuance ("had disposed themselves"), we would expect some explicit reflexive marking, such as an active verb with a reflexive pronoun, as in verse 46. By the Koine period, active verb + reflexive pronoun was the standard way to express reflexivity. Genuine reflexive middles (i.e. verbs conveying self-action) were exceedingly rare and typically contextually obvious (e.g., Matt. 27:5; arguably the only true reflexive middle in the NT). And as if that were not rare enough on its own, to find such a reflexive sense in a perfect periphrastic construction would be exceptional; virtually without parallel in Koine Greek. The passive reading therefore aligns both with Luke's normal syntax and with his repeated emphasis on divine initiative in salvation (cf. Acts 16:14).
Curious what others think: if you disagree with the reading that those who believed did so because of prior divine appointment, what is your argument?
Ἀκούοντα δὲ τὰ ἔθνη ἔχαιρον καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐπίστευσαν ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον·
All major translations render τεταγμένοι as passive: "were appointed."
Yet some individuals argue for a middle sense: "had disposed themselves toward eternal life," making the verb about human readiness rather than divine appointment.
Grammatically, τεταγμένοι is the perfect participle of τάσσω, whose perfect middle and passive forms are identical in spelling (hence the debate). The surrounding construction (ἦσαν τεταγμένοι) is a perfect periphrastic, a construction that emphasizes the state resulting from a prior completed action. In other words, when the Gentiles hear the gospel, they are already "in the state of having been appointed." The narrative logic naturally runs: divine appointment precedes and explains belief.
If Luke had intended a reflexive nuance ("had disposed themselves"), we would expect some explicit reflexive marking, such as an active verb with a reflexive pronoun, as in verse 46. By the Koine period, active verb + reflexive pronoun was the standard way to express reflexivity. Genuine reflexive middles (i.e. verbs conveying self-action) were exceedingly rare and typically contextually obvious (e.g., Matt. 27:5; arguably the only true reflexive middle in the NT). And as if that were not rare enough on its own, to find such a reflexive sense in a perfect periphrastic construction would be exceptional; virtually without parallel in Koine Greek. The passive reading therefore aligns both with Luke's normal syntax and with his repeated emphasis on divine initiative in salvation (cf. Acts 16:14).
Curious what others think: if you disagree with the reading that those who believed did so because of prior divine appointment, what is your argument?
