Middle and passive voice

Who acts, and who receives

And this is the life that was revealed;

1 John 1:2

"Was revealed" is ἐφανερώθη ("ephanerōthē"). The panel reads it as aorist, passive, indicative, 3rd, singular. This lesson is about a different slot from tense: voice. Voice tells you how the subject relates to the action.

In the active voice the subject performs the action ("he revealed"). In the passive the subject receives it; here the life is "revealed". In the middle the subject acts with some involvement of its own: for itself, on itself, in its own interest. English has no middle voice, so translations spell it out ("he washed himself").

When a passive names who performed the action, Greek usually uses ὑπό "by" with a genitive. Matthew 3:6 says the people ἐβαπτίζοντο ("ebaptizonto"), "were being baptized", ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, "by him": the genitive αὐτοῦ is John. ὑπό occurs more than 170 times in the New Testament. The same passive verb appears in John 3:23 as ἐβαπτίζοντο.

Recognising the endings

In the present and the perfect, middle and passive share one set of forms (so does the imperfect: the -οντο of ἐβαπτίζοντο could be either). The present and perfect endings are -μαι, -σαι, -ται, -μεθα, -σθε, -νται. If you remember only one, remember -ται, the 3rd singular, where the active has -ει. δύναται in John 3:2 ends in it, and so does the perfect ἐγήγερται "has been raised".

Because the form alone cannot decide, the panel sometimes picks one from the context: ἐγήγερται and ἐβαπτίζοντο are both labelled passive. When it does not pick, it says middle or passive. In Matthew 2:13, φαίνεται ("phainetai") says the angel of the Lord "appears" to Joseph. The active of this verb is "shine", as in φαίνει in John 1:5, so the middle or passive sense is "shows itself, appears".

The aorist is different. The aorist passive has its own marker, -θη-. You see it in ἐφανερώθη, and in γεννηθῇ ("gennēthē"), "be born", in John 3:3. When you meet θη in a verb, think aorist passive first. In the indicative it also carries the augment ε-. The -θησ- you saw in the future is the same family.

The middle: an action tied to the subject

For the middle, read John 9:7. Jesus tells the blind man to go to the pool of Siloam and νίψαι ("nipsai"), "wash yourself", and the man ἐνίψατο "washed". He is not washing someone else; the action returns to the subject, so Greek uses the middle.

ἀπόληται ("apolētai") in John 3:16, "perish", is a middle form too (a 2nd aorist subjunctive). The middle does not reduce to one tidy rule, so treat "action tied to the subject" as a rough guide. The participle ἐξομολογούμενοι "confessing" in Matthew 3:6 is another middle.

Deponents: form and meaning part ways

Some verbs have middle or passive forms but an active meaning. The panel calls these deponent and uses three labels: middle deponent, passive deponent, and middle or passive deponent. ἐγένετο ("egeneto") in John 1:3 is a middle deponent of γίνομαι "become", a verb that occurs nearly 670 times: "all things came into being through Him".

ἔρχεται "comes" (John 14:6) is a middle or passive deponent, and so is προσεύχεσθε ("proseuchesthe") "pray!" in the Lord's Prayer; προσεύχομαι occurs about 85 times. ἐφοβήθησαν ("ephobēthēsan") "they were terrified" in John 6:19 has the -θη- of a passive, but the meaning is active, so it is a passive deponent. Its lexicon form is φοβέω. Many scholars now avoid the word "deponent" and simply call these middle verbs. For reading, the lesson is the same: strange form, active sense.

Summary

Voice is the subject's relation to the action. In the passive, the agent is often ὑπό plus the genitive. In the present and perfect, middle and passive look alike (-ται), and the aorist passive is marked by -θη-. The middle is an action tied to the subject. Deponents have middle or passive form with active meaning.

Words in this lesson

• γίνομαιginomaito be668 times in the NT
• ὑπόhupoby/under: by171 times in the NT
• προσεύχομαιproseuchomaito pray85 times in the NT
• φοβέωphobeōto fear95 times in the NT

Practice