Eph 4:23 ἀνανεοῦσθαι δὲ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν

[Ruth Mathys]

Fuller context:

20 ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν, 21 εἴ γε αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδιδάχθητε, καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, 22 ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, 23 ἀνανεοῦσθαι δὲ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν, 24 καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιότητι τῆς ἀληθείας.

Arnold (Ephesians, Zondervan, 2010) says of v. 23:
It is therefore best to interpret this passage as referring to the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in a way similar to the functions Paul ascribes to the Spirit in Rom 8. ... The mind (ὁ νοῦς), then, is the focus of the Spirit’s renewing work. Technically, since the infinitive is in the passive voice, the genitive case of “the mind” should be understood as a subjective genitive; that is, it serves as the subject of the passive verb with the Spirit being understood as the agent of the renewing work: “the mind is being renewed by the Spirit.”

That seems bonkers to me. Is there any evidence that a genitive can serve as the subject of an infinitive? To me, the only sound reading is to take τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν as a single noun phrase with a locative-ish sense, with ὑμᾶς as the understood subject of the infinitive (which Arnold doesn't dispute for v. 24). According to BrillDAG, ἀνανεοῦσθαι is primarily middle, but it does cite this passage as evidence of a passive sense.

Ruth Mathys
ruth_mathys@sil.org

[Stephen Carlson]

It also seems bonkers to me.