ἐξελέξατο in Ephesians 1:4

The morphology list this word as middle voice. The lemma form ends in ομαι which I have learned to mean that the verb is a deponent which implies active meaning. Therefore, is it correct to say that God has chosen the believers for Himself (which is middle voice)? Thanks for your help!

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Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Therefore, is it correct to say that God has chosen the believers for Himself (which is middle voice)?

Looking in several resources, noted middle voice consistently (by some Greek experts, including A.T. Robertson and Dr. B.F. Westcott)

Keep Smiling [:)]

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/293368#Comment_293368

Goodness, KSFJ ... that is a REALLY big screen. I have room for 4 (yes, count them, FOUR) icons.

George Somsel

The morphology list this word as middle voice. The lemma form ends in ομαι which I have learned to mean that the verb is a deponent which implies active meaning. Therefore, is it correct to say that God has chosen the believers for Himself (which is middle voice)? Thanks for your help!

You might be interested in Carl W Conrad's paper on the subject of Greek voice. He is retired from teaching Greek and Latin at Washington University in St Louis. I have a great deal of respect for his opinion — on Greek. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/docs/UndAncGrkVc.pdf

Here's a short piece he wrote on this subject http://artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/GrkVc.html

Justin Cofer

The morphology list this word as middle voice. The lemma form ends in ομαι which I have learned to mean that the verb is a deponent which implies active meaning. Therefore, is it correct to say that God has chosen the believers for Himself (which is middle voice)? Thanks for your help!

http://www.logos.com/product/8286/greek-grammar-beyond-the-basics

Wallace writes,

Eph 1:4	evxele,xato h`ma/j
	he chose us [for himself]

Although
evkle,gw does
not occur as an active verb in the NT, it does in Hellenistic Greek
in general and hence ought not to be taken as a deponent. God
chose us for
himself, by himself,
or for his own interests. This does not, of course, imply that God
needed believers. Rather, just as the chief end of human beings is to
glorify God and enjoy him forever, so too God is in the business of
glorifying himself. And as is mentioned three times in Eph 1,
the elect belong to God “for the praise of his glory.”

Lankford Oxendine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/293425#Comment_293425

I appreciate all of the replies. Just when you think you know something, you find out you really don't know it at all. Mounce teaches that verbs ending in ομαι are deponent and therefore have an active voice and no middle voice should be assumed. Either 1) Mounce is right and the scholars mentioned in this thread are wrong, 2) I have misunderstood Mounce, 3) Mounce is right and the rest are wrong. One thing is for sure, nothing is ever straight forward when it comes to Biblical Greek!

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/293434#Comment_293434

Just when you think you know something, you find out you really don't know it at all. Mounce teaches that verbs ending in ομαι are deponent and therefore have an active voice and no middle voice should be assumed. Either 1) Mounce is right and the scholars mentioned in this thread are wrong, 2) I have misunderstood Mounce, 3) Mounce is right and the rest are wrong. One thing is for sure, nothing is ever straight forward when it comes to Biblical Greek!

Wonder if 1) or 3) ought to be Mounce is right, but incomplete in explanation of deponent (left out exceptions).

Likewise living and learning along with remembering 1st year Greek class teaching about deponent verbs (several other introductory Greek grammars agree with Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek).

David Alan Black includes a dozen deponent verb exceptions => Learn to Read New Testament Greek

Tense Voice Mood => logosres:tvm;ref=TenseVoiceMood.TVM5787 includes:

5787 Voice — Either Middle or Passive

Many of the so-called “deponent” verbs can have either a middle or passive form. These are normally translated as having an active voice, since they have no active form in their outward spelling. At times, however, they retain their middle or passive significance.

Pierce, L. Tense Voice Mood. Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research => logosres:ggntlhr;ref=Page.p_803 has 11 pages about middle voice. Also has a section about so-called "deponent" verbs => logosres:ggntlhr;ref=Page.p_332

(d) THE SO-CALLED “DEPONENT” VERBS. These call for a word (cf. ch. XVII, III, (k)) at the risk of trespassing on syntax. Moulton is certainly right in saying that the term should be applied to all three voices if to any. The truth is that it should not be used at all. As in the Sanskrit so in the Greek some verbs were used in both active and middle in all tenses (like λύω); some verbs in some tenses in one and some in the other (like βαίνω, βήσομαι); some on one voice only (like κεῖμαι). As concerns voice these verbs were defective rather than deponent. Note also the common use of the second perfect active with middle verbs (γίνομαι, γέγονα). A number of verbs sometimes have the future in the active in the N. T. which usually had it in the middle in the older Greek. These are: ἀκούσω (Jo. 5:25, 28, etc., but ἀκούσομαι, Ac. 17:32), ἁμαρτήσω (Mt. 18:21), ἀπαντήσω (Mk. 14:13), ἁρπάσω (Jo. 10:28), βλέψω (Ac. 28:26), γελάσω (Lu. 6:21), διώξω (Mt. 23:34), ζήσω (Jo. 5:25), ἐπιορκήσω (Mt. 5:33, LXX), κλαύσω (Lu. 6:25), κράξω (Lu. 19:40), παίξω (Mk. 10:34), ῥεύσω (Jo. 7:38), σιωπήσω (Lu. 19:40), σπουδάσω (2 Pet. 1:15), συναντήσω (Lu. 22:10). But still note ἀποθανοῦμαι, ἔσομαι, ζήσομαι, θαυμάσομαι, λήμψομαι, ὄψομαι, πεσοῦμαι, πίομαι, τέξομαι, φάγομαι, φεύξομαι, etc. Cf. Blass, Gr. of N. T. Gk., p. 42 f.; Winer-Schmiedel, p. 107; Moulton, Prol., p. 155. See Helbing, Gr. d. Sept., p. 89 f.; Thackeray, pp. 231 ff., for illustrations in the LXX. The term “deponent” arose from the idea that these verbs had dropped the active voice. Verbs do vary in the use of the voices in different stages of the language.

Robertson, A. (1919; 2006). A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (332–333). Logos.

Logos pre-publication ships soon => Friedrich Blass Greek Studies Collection (3 vols.) (noted Robertson mentions Blass a number of times)

Keep Smiling [:)]

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/293452#Comment_293452

As in the Sanskrit so in the Greek

Finally some use for a language I know (Sanskrit)[8] (Music to my ears)

Lankford Oxendine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/293465#Comment_293465

So I reread Mounce on the subject of Deponents and it appears that I have misrepresented him. He states that verbs ending in ομαι are deponents in the present tense, not necessarily past or future. He also has a little note about some recent discussions challenging whether there is such a thing as deponency.