PORTER Did Paul Baptize Himself? 99
without clear exposition include: W. Trollope, who translates 'have thyself
baptized';^28 T.E. Page, who translates 'cause thyself to be baptized';^29
G.R. Beasley-Murray, who translates 'Get baptized';^30 and J.B. Polhill,
who though using the Niv ('be baptized') opts for the causative 'have
yourself baptized'.^31 Those who marshal arguments against other positions
and in favour of this position, such as Bruce and C.K. Barrett, seem to rely
upon three major arguments. In refuting other positions, such as the one
that argues that Paul baptized himself, it is pointed out that Acts 9.18 uses
the passive verb.^32 The second is the support for the middle interpretation
on the basis of the use of the aorist middle sPanriaavTO in 1 Cor. 10.2,
translated by Bruce as 'they got themselves baptized'.^33 The third is the
recognition of the parallelism with the aorist middle aTToXouaai.^34 The
second and third arguments that are marshalled here clearly show that the
verb, PaiTTioa l, should be seen as a middle form, but to a large extent that
issue is not in dispute, at least in terms of the actual form itself. The ques-
tion is how to interpret the middle form, and that question is not answered
simply by marshalling parallels. In that sense, the first argument works
against the other two. Acts 9.18 only shows that in one instance Paul did
not baptize himself (using the passive, not the middle voice form), but
does not necessarily establish what he did in Acts 22.16. There is the final
question of whether the causal sense of the middle voice is a possible, and
if possible the best, explanation of the use of the middle voice form in
Greek. This causal sense needs much further exposition, if indeed it is an
accurate characterization of the meaning of the Greek middle voice.- W. Trollope, The Acts of the Apostles (rev. G.F. Browne; Cambridge: J. Hall &
Son, 1877), p. 144. The translation seems to be passive, but his labelling of the form as
middle, and his criticism of a translation for neglecting the middle of the following
verb, seem to indicate that he takes the middle here causally. - T.E. Page, The Acts of the Apostles (London: Macmillan, 1930), p. 228.
- G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1962), p. 163; but cf. pp. 364-65, where he seems to take the passive view. - J.B. Polhill, Acts (NAC, 26; Nashville: Broadman, 1992), p. 461 n. 39, with
Ananias, the only one present, being the one who administers it. - E.g. Bruce, Book of the Acts, p. 442 n. 20.
- Bruce, Book of the Acts, p. 442 n. 20; C.K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (ICC; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994,
1998), II, p. 1042, but where he also compares 1 Cor. 6.11 interpreted as 'you washed
yourselves'. But cf. Bruce, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 45 7-58, where he takes 1 Cor. 10.2
in support of the 'reflexive force of Gk. verbs of washing in the middle voice'. - Bruce, Book of the Acts, p. 442 n. 20; Barrett, Acts, II, p. 1043.