PORTER Did Paul Baptize Himself? 105
(pragmatic manifestation) of the general definition of the middle voice
(semantic sense). This position actually breaks down into two related
issues. The first is whether there is a specific causative use of the Greek
middle voice, and the second is whether the Greek middle voice, or voice
as a whole in Greek, should be described as causal. Throughout recent
discussion of the middle voice in Greek, a number of grammarians,
besides those commentators noted above, have listed a causal or related
(e.g. permissive) sense of the middle voice.^65 Several of these grammari-
ans include Acts 22.16 as an example in this category. For example, Nunn
defines the causative as denoting that 'the subject allows something to
be done, or gets something done'.^66 Webster adds the idea that the thing
gets done 'by intermediate agency'.^67 In terms of Acts 22.16, a number of
the grammarians believe that the use of pdcTTTioai is causative (or permis-
sive). For example, Robertson says that Acts 22.16 has instances of 'the
causative middle, one a direct [Pairnoai], the other an indirect [CXTTOXO-
uoai], middle, "get yourself baptized and get your sins was/ed away" \^68
Brooks and Winbery translate with 'Permit yourself to be baptized and
have your sins washed away' (italics original).^69 Hoffmann and von
Siebenthal render it 'lass dich taufenund (dir) deine Siinden abwaschen'.^70
Wallace provides probably the most extensive discussion of the verse. As
an example of the permissive middle, he translates it as 'Rise, haveyourself baptized and allow your sins to be washed away' (emphasis
original).^71 However, it is when Wallace explains his reasoning that ques-
tions must be raised. He states:- E.g. Webster, Syntax and Synonyms, pp. 97, 98; Nunn, Syntax, p. 64; S.G.
Green, Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek Testament (London: Religious Tract
Society, n.d.), pp. 292,293-94; Robertson, Grammar, pp. 808-809, who considers it a
form of direct middle; Brooks and Winbery, Syntax, p. 102, who consider it a form of
indirect middle; Hoffmann and von Siebenthal, Griechische Grammatik, pp. 294-95,
300; McKay, New Syntax, p. 22; Wallace, Greek Grammar, pp. 423-25. - Nunn, Synax, p. 64. Note that Nunn's definition includes what some would call
the permissive middle. See also Brooks and Winbery, Syntax, p. 102; and Hoffmann
and von Siebenthal, Griechische Grammatik, p. 294, who include the two together
(on the basis of German translation with lass en for Hoffmann and von Siebenthal?).
Wallace (Greek Grammar, pp. 425-27) distinguishes between the causative middle as
having something done, but the permissive middle as allowing something to be done. - Webster, Syntax and Synonyms, p. 97.
- Robertson, Grammar, p. 808.
- Brooks and Winbery, Syntax, p. 102.
- Hoffmann and von Siebenthal, Griechische Grammatik, p. 294.
- Wallace, Greek Grammar, p. 426.