"Hupotagysetai

Andrews University Seminary Studies, Autumn 2000, Vol. 38, No. 2,203-206. Copyright 0 2000 by Andrews University Press. horcryfioctar IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15:28b W. LARRYRICHARDS Andrews University In the second clause in 1 Cor 1528, the verb h o r a y ~ a ~ can z a ~be translated in two major ways, which alter the translation a great deal.*The options in English are (a) Christ is subjected (by God, in this case-the passive voice) or (b), Christ subjects himself (to God-the middle voice). The clause containing the verb reads in the critical editions as well as in the TR:* r 6 r t [~cri]odzbs 6 uibc h ~ o r c r r 6 a ~ r cr Q r ~ h.rror&&xvr~d r @ r& noivza. "When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all" (NRSV, emphasis supplied). My attention was drawn to these distinctly different options when I was doing my own translation for the commentary on 1Corinthians for the Bible Amplifier Series pacific Press). Without hesitation, when I came to this verb I chose the middle voice of the Greek verb, which has Christ initiating the act of subjection, rather than the passive voice that has God initiating Christ's subjection. This presented a problem. The Bible Amplifier Series uses the NIV as the base text, and the NIV uses the passive voice for this verb. When I turned to my own favorite English versions, the RSV and NRSV, to see what they had done, I found that both versions, along with the KJV and NKJV, had chosen the passive voice. Why, I asked, do the major translations choose the passive voice rather than the middle voice-the one that seemed so natural to me?' 'Our concern in this paper is with the English translations. See n. 5 below regarding non-English translations. 'The only difference between the two critical editions (UBS 4 and Nestle-Aland 27) and the TR is that the TR does not have the bracketed KW.In the UBS text the br&ets indicate uncertainty about the authenticity of the word. This differencedoes not materially affect the issue. 'The issue here is not over the question as to whether a future "middle" even exists. The uncertain status of this question is reflected in the following comments: Robertson argues that "fundamentally these so-calledsecond future passives are really future middlesn(356-357). G. G. Findlay writes that "in 1Cor. 1528,horuyilocra~,the passive may bear middle force" (St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthidns, The Expositor's Greek New Testament, ed. W. R. Nicoll, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 19611,809).Moulton avers that "the future passive form takes over the uses of the vanishing future middle forms" (819).And Blass and DeBrunner further state, "The conjugation -uopu~,etc. is no longer used in a passive sense, only An examination of the major lexicons shows that the verb in 1 Cor 15:28b is cited both as an example of a passive voice and an example of the middle voice.4 In checking thirty-six English translations of the verse5 I found the following: fourteen translate h ~ o z a y f i o ~ z aast . an obvious passive ("the Son himself will be subjected" / "will be made subject") or similar6;twelve translate it as an ambiguous passive, that is, the act of subjection is not specifically tied to Christ as initiator or to God as initiator of the act of submission ("the Son himself will be subject) or similar.' Ten translate the verb as a middle voice, in which Christ himself acts rather than being acted upon.' The flow of Paul's argument throughout 1 Corinthians seems to favor the middle voice. Paul is confronting opponents who are arrogant and (8)quopcr~"(A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christhn Literature [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961],43). Bauer gives the following option: "sich unterordnen" and then cites 1 Cor. 15:28b as an example (Griechisch-deutschesWortwbuch zu den Schrtflen des Neuen Testaments und derfihchristlichen Literatur, 6th ed. [New York: W. de Gruyter, 1988). 4Arndt and Gingrich (A Greek-EnglishLexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 1957); Walter Bauer; Henry George Liddell, et. al. (A Greek-English Lexicon [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 19731); and George Abbott-Smith (A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 3d ed. [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 19373. 5Arandom check of non-English translations shows that many of these translations use the middle voice in 1 Cor 15:28b.For example, I found the following non-English translations of the middle voice: two German Bibles: The GermanEinbeitsuberssetzung dw Heiligm Sch$ (1980), B e GermanSchlachter Version(1951);two Dutch: TheDutch Revised Leahe Vwtaling(1912/1994), 7he Dutch Nedwkznds Bijbelgenootschap Vwtaling(1951);one It&an: Nuouissima VmUmedellaB&ia Sun PaoloEd2wnze(19951996);three Spanish:La Btblia deLdsAmwiuts(1986),TheSpnishReina- Vakra Btble (1909), Spanish Reina ValeraRevised (1960 and 1995);one Russian: The Russian Synodal T a t of the Bible (OrthodoxSynodal Edition, 1917);one Ukrainian: The Ukrainian Vmion of the Btble (1996); two Danish: 7be Danish Bib&Bibelen-Den hellige s h f i kmoniske l q e r (NT 1907) and De HeUige Skrzfler (1933); two French: French B& de Jkmsalm (1973), French Bible "enfianpis courant" (1997); one Norwegian: N o m q p n h k Bibel Konkmdant (3d ed., 1994); and three Brazilian Portuguese:J&o Fmeira de Alm& Revista e Atdizada (2d ed.,l993), J&o Fwreira de Al& Revtsta e Cornom&(l969),JorZo Feweira de Al& Corri& Fie1 (1994/1995). 6NIV,ASV, RSV, NRSV,NEB, Confraternity, Revised English, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible (1986), The Bible in Living English, Moffatt, The Modern Reader's Bible, The Emphasized Bible, English Version for the Deaf. 'KJV, NKJV, Douay Version, Geneva, Lama's Translation, Tyndale Version, Illuminated Bible, Clear Word, Jerusalem Bible, Knox's Translation, Young's Translation, Basic English Version. 'New American Bible (1970), Amplified Bible, Berkeley Version, New Berkeley Version, Contemporary English Version, Modern Language, Living Bible, New Living Translation, TEV,and Phillips. boastful, wen puffed up about their immoral behavior, and who are defiant toward Paul's apostleship.Therefore, it seems to be a natural conclusion to see Paul citing Christ's own act of submission as an argument against his opponents' lack of such an attitude. To argue that God subjects C h t (the passive voice) would make the comment completely irrelevant to the case that Paul wishes to make. An obvious question to ask here is: Does the middle voice not only make sense in 1528, where the immediate context seems to call for it: but does it coincide with Paul's theology elsewhere? Furthermore, do the translators of the NRSV lend support to a translation in the middle voice in 1528 by what they did with a similar verb elsewhere?'' Considering the latter question first, the same verb with the same voice-form occurs in two places in 1 Corinthians. We noted above the (...truncated)