Sue

NN,

28And(A) do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him(B) who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mat. 10:28

“5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him(A) who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.[a] Yes, I tell you, fear him!” Luke 12:4

In the first of these verses, the verb phobeo is in the middle voice, and in the second, the verb is in the passive verse.

Would you care to explain how they differ in meaning?

Carl Conrad is a retired professor of classical Greek who has studied the Middle voice for many years. Just a few weeks ago in the B Greek list he wrote,

“The simple fact of the matter is (I think) that everybody is aware that there simply is no adequate “doctrine” of Greek verbal voice and that terminology and understanding of the phenomena are much too vague to be grasped with sufficient clarity to talk/write intelligently or intelligibly about it.

My apologies to any out there who thinks that there really does exist an adequate “doctrine” of Greek verbal voice, and my earnest request that they come forward with it.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)”