Heb 1.3 ποιησάμενος

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
Louis L Sorenson
Posts: 711
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 9:21 pm
Location: Burnsville, MN, USA
Contact:

Heb 1.3 ποιησάμενος

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

Heb 1.3 ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ,
φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ,
καθαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος
ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς,

What is the effect of the middle ποιησάμενος? The other participles and verbs are active...ὤν, φέρων, ἐκάθισεν. Is there any way that ποιησάμενος could be read as passive? The passage talks about the supremacy of the Son over angels, so the active sense fits in the context, So would you categorize this as an intensive use with no sense of a reflexive? e.g. 'He himself made the purification (offering)" versus "He made himself the purification (offering)" - or somewhere in between?

Job 7.21 καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐποιήσω τῆς ἀνομίας μου λήθην καὶ καθαρισμὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου; νυνὶ δὲ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσομαι, ὀρθρίζων δὲ οὐκέτι εἰμί.

2 Mac 2.16 Μέλλοντες οὖν ἄγειν τὸν καθαρισμὸν ἐγράψαμεν ὑμῖν, καλώς οὖν ποιήσετε ἄγοντες τὰς ἡμέρας.

Ex 29.36 καὶ τὸ μοσχάριον τῆς ἁμαρτίας ποιήσεις τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ καὶ καθαριεῖς τὸ θυσιαστήριον ἐν τῷ ἁγιάζειν σε ἐπ̓ αὐτῷ καὶ χρίσεις αὐτὸ ὥστε ἁγιάσαι αὐτό.

BDAG gives the glosses (1) cleansing from cultic impurity, purification (2) cleansing from inward pollution, purify, fig. extension of 1 (TestLevi 14:6 v.l.) 1 Cl 60:2 (s. καθαρίζω 3bα). κ. τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιεῖσθαι bring about purification from sin (cp. Job 7:21) Hb 1:3. Cp. 2 Pt 1:9. Thus BDAG just abstracts the word with no reference to a ritual offering.

But LSJ says καθαρισμός is late for καθαρμός
A. cleansing, purification, from guilt, “νίψαι καθαρμῷ τήνδε τὴν στέγην” S.OT1228: hence, purificatory offering, atonement, expiation, “καθαρμὸν τῆς χώρης ποιέεσθαί τινα” Hdt.7.197: freq. in pl., “μύσος ἐλαύνειν καθαρμοῖς” A.Ch.968 (lyr., dub. l.), cf. Th. 738, Eu.277, 283, Berl.Sitzb.1927.156 (Cyrene): sg., S.OT99; θοῦ νῦν καθαρμὸν δαιμόνων make an offering to avert their wrath, Id.OC466; “καθαρμὸν θύειν” E.IT1332; “λύσεις τε καὶ καθαρμοὶ ἀδικημάτων” Pl.R. 364e; ὁ περὶ τὴν διάνοιαν κ. Id.Sph.227c; κ. ποιεῖσθαι τῆς δυνάμεως, Lat. lustrare exercitum, Plb.21.41.9, Plu.Caes.43; of the Roman lustrum, D.H.4.22; κ. ὅπλων, σάλπιγγος,= Lat. armilustrium, tubilustrium, Lyd.Mens.4.34,60.
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Heb 1.3 ποιησάμενος

Post by Stephen Carlson »

It's the middle sense of ποιέω, BDAG 841-842 "ποιέω 7": "make/do someth. for onself or of oneself mid."

Danker notes that both the active and middle senses of ποιέω are used as a periphrasis of a simpler verbal idea. He doesn't explain the choice of voice however, and it could well be idiomatic. Now, I don't have a full handle on the choice of voice here myself, but I'm tempted to think that the way Jesus accomplished the cleansing in the mind of the author, via the cross, could be better reflected in the subject-affected middle.

Stephen
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Alex Hopkins
Posts: 59
Joined: June 10th, 2011, 7:15 am

Re: Heb 1.3 ποιησάμενος

Post by Alex Hopkins »

There is a range of periphrastic constructions where ποιέω with a noun is used instead of a simple verb; significantly, however, in classical Greek it is the middle form of ποιέω that is used in such constructions. And so it is that Turner says, "The middle was the rule in class. Greek, and in some instances [in the NT] there is a variant correcting to the middle of ποιέω where the active appears in the stronger text [exx. snipped]. But the active, unchallenged, appears where we expect the middle [exx. snipped]." (vol 3, p56) That is, the middle was - or had been - the default in such constructions, but NT usage was more accepting of the active. See also BDF section 310, Active for (classical) middle., section (1). It may be of interest also to note Smyth 1722, "Under the indirect middle belong the periphrases of ποιεῖσθαι with verbal nouns instead of the simple verb (cp. 1754). ποιεῖν wtih the same nouns means to bring about, effect, fashion, etc." (See also Robertson p802).

Returning more directly to Louis' question, I don't think the middle is significant. In the Job example given ἐποιήσω (2s ao mid) is used periphrastically in the manner indicated above with λήθην and with καθαρισμὸν - καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐποιήσω τῆς ἀνομίας μου λήθην καὶ καθαρισμὸν (Job 7:21 BGT)

Alex Hopkins
Melbourne, Australia
Post Reply

Return to “New Testament”