R. Martin, Approaches to NT Exegesis, p. 237:
“[The divine passive became] customary,
with an extended usage, on Jesus’ lips. He uses it over 100x [Mat 5.4; Luke
12.7].”
Jeremias, NT Theology, p 11:
“The divine passive occurs round about
100 times in the sayings of Jesus.”
N.T. Wright, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians & to Philemon, p. 71:
“The [divine passive denotes] in a
typically Jewish fashion, the activity of God the Father, working in the Son.”
Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New
Testament, p 437:
“The passive is also used when God is the obvious agent. Many grammars
calls this a divine passive (or theological
passive), assuming that its use was due to the Jewish aversion to using the
divine name [So BDF, 71 (§130.1);
Zerwick, Biblical Greek, 76 (§236);
Young, Intermediate Greek, 135-36.
Cf. also J. Jeremias, NT Theology 9
-14, especially finds it on the lips of Jesus].”
“Jesus’ Avoidance of the Divine Name,” Soulen,
Jesus and the Divine Name:
The “divine passive” is so typical of
Jesus that a full survey basically amounts to a recapitulation of his public
teaching.
• x times in Mar 2.5, 9, 20;
3.28;
4.11-12, 24-25;
8.12, 17
9.31, 45, 47, 49;
10.40;
12.10
13.11, 13
14.41
• x time in Luke 4.25, 43;
6.21, 37-38;
7.47
10.15, 20
11.2, 9-10, 50-51
12.2, 7, 10, 31, 48;
13.28, 32, 34-35
14.11, 14
16.25-26
17.10, 34-35;
18.14
19.42
22.16, 22
24.7
• 41x in Matthew 5.4, 6-7, 9, 29;
6.7, 33;
7.1-2, 7-8, 19;
8.12
9.29
10.19, 26, 30;
12.31-32, 37, 39
13.11-12;
15.13;
16.4, 19;
18.18
19.11;
20.23;
21.43;
23.12, 37-38;
24.13, 40-41;
25.29, 34, 41;
26.42
28.18
• 2x in John 3.18;
16.11
Is Jesus God?
"What Does God Do? Divine Actives
and Divine Passives in the Gospel of Matthew"
Robert L. Mowery:
“The divine passive are statements that variously
identify God as Theos (9:8; 19:6), Lord of the harvest (9:38), the Father
(10:20; 11:25; 16:17; cf. 18:14, 19), the One who created (19:4).”
“The verbs in many of these [Sermon on
the Mount] statements are divine passives. Many 21st century readers
may need assistance in recognizing that God is the implied agent of these
verbs.”
Addendum: The Divine Name
Jeremias, Theology, 9-14, p. 9.
"…the use of the passive in place of
the divine name."
The forbidding of oaths by Jesus [Mat
5.37] “had in view the guarding against a misuse of the divine name…a conscious
avoidance of the name of God.” Dalman, The Words of Jesus, p 229.
Jesus
Then and Now: Images of Jesus in History and Christology, Eds. Meyer,
Hughes, p 33:
“Abuse of the divine name was punishable
by death (Lev. 24.10-11, 14-16, 23; Sanhedrin 7.5). But Jesus does not invoke
the divine name [in Mar 2.5]. He pronounces forgiveness, employing the
theological passive.”
Karen Kilby, Too Many Trinities? Kendall Soulen’s Trinitarian Trinitarianism in
Pro Ecclesia Vol 23-N1: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, p 29:
“The practice of piety toward the divine
name precisely by its avoidance continues in the NT, even if contemporary
Christians might often miss this. Jesus, for instance, shows reverence for the
divine name in his rejection of oaths, in his distinctive use of ‘Amen, Amen,’
and in his employment of the divine passive (‘Blessed are they,’ ‘Forgive, and
you will be forgiven,’ etc.).”
The
Method and Message of Jesus' Teachings, Robert H. Stein, pp 64:
“A second way in which the devout Jew
sought to avoid the utterance of the sacred name of God was by the use of the
divine passive [Mat 5.4; 7.1, 7; 10.30; Mar 4.25]….the number of examples we
find and the clarity of many of them clearly indicates that the devout Jew
frequently sought to avoid the danger of breaking the Third Commandment by
means of this passive construction as well as by the substitution or
circumlocution.”
Jesus,
the Temple and the Coming Son of Man: A Commentary on Mark 13, Robert H.
Stein, p 26:
“Since Jesus’ native tongue was Aramaic,
the presence of Aramaic terms and of customs of Aramaic-speaking Jews in Palestine,
such as the avoidance of God’s name by the use of the ‘divine passive’ [a
passive tense allows the avoidance of the mention of God as the subject of the
action, i.e., Mat 7.1, 7; 10.30; Mar 4.25; 10.40], as well as the substitution
of another term for God [e.g., ‘kingdom of heaven’ and Mat 5.34-35; 6.9; Mar
11.30; 14.61-62; Luke 6.35; 12.8-9; 15.10, 21], suggests that in such cases we
may well be dealing with a saying or custom that reflects the situation of
Jesus.”
The
Death and Resurrection of Jesus, Donald Goergen, p 210:
“A speech pattern characteristic of Jesus
although not unique is his use of circumlocutions for God. From the prohibition
against pronouncing the tetragrammaton, the proper name for God (YHWH, Yahweh)
there also arose the custom of avoiding direct talk about God, speaking of God
periphrastically or by circumlocution. Jesus did not necessarily avoid the word
God, but he seems to have preferred to do so. Especially notable in the
language of Jesus is his use of ‘the divine passive,’ avoiding direct reference
to God by use of the passive [Mar 2.5].
Jesus
Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, Kenneth E.
Bailey, p 109:
“Jews of the first century were very
careful not to use God’s name unless it was absolutely necessary. They sense
that any casual use of God’s holy name might inadvertently break the Ten
Commandments [Ex 20.7]. More than 200 cases of the divine passive are found in
the words of Jesus in the Gospels. This is one of the distinctive
characteristics of Jesus’ speech as a 1st century Jew.”
The
Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide, James H. Charlesworth:
“…evidence of Semitics (Hebrew and
Aramaic forms) usually indicates tradition received by the Evangelists.
[Examples include] the use of the divine passive so as to avoid using the name
God.”
Going
Deeper with New Testament Greek: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and
Syntax of the New Testament, Köstenberger, Merkle, Plummer:
“The assumption is that God is not
mentioned in the context because of the Jewish aversion to using the divine
name (lest they use it in vain). For instance, some of the blessings that Jesus
offers in the Beatitudes are given in the passive voice with no agent mentioned
[Mat 5.4, 7, 9].”
Knocking
on Heaven's Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer, David
Crump, pp 116-7:
“Eager to avoid even inadvertent slights
to God’s holiness, ancient Judaism devised various circumlocutions that would
allow a person to talk about God without actually using the divine name [Mat
7.2].”
From
Gethsemane to Pentecost: A Passion Study, Elizabeth Danna:
“By using passive verbs [Mar 4.24-25]
Jesus hints that it is God who will be doing the measuring, giving, and taking.
This was a Jewish custom, which arose shortly before Jesus’ time, to avoid
unintentional irreverent use of God’s name.”
History
of the Kingdom of God, Part 2: Liturgy and the Building of the Kingdom,
Sofia Cavalletti, p 25:
The prayer that Jesus taught us,
therefore, begins by affirming that it is directed to the “Father” who is God.
There are three petitions that follow, the first and third of which are
redacted in the verbal form called “divine passive” or “royal passive”; this is
often found in the sayings of Jesus. It is a paraphrase that is used to avoid
speaking about God in direct terms, for the sake of the utmost reverence due to
God; it has been called the “reverential passive.”
