Active voice vs. passive voice...remember that? "Tom threw
the ball." The verb "threw" is active voice, because "Tom" acted - did the
throwing. "The ball was thrown." Now the verb is passive voice, since the subject of the sentence, the ball, was acted upon (it was thrown, poor thing).
Anyhow, anyone who has ever taken a short course on creative
writing knows we’re supposed to use active verbs! Don’t say "the balls were
under-inflated." Say, "Tom under-inflated the balls." Don’t say, "the game was
won by cheating." Say, "Tom won the game by cheating."
But (and now for the interesting part, and thank you for
hanging in there), the writers and speakers of the New Testament did not get
the above memo on good writing. Passives are used everywhere. (Did you see how
I just used a passive voice?) And there is a thing in New Testament Greek called a divine passive. It sounds passive, but it is meant to imply
that the true Actor is Almighty God.
Here are some divine passives from the Sermon on the Mount
in Matthew 5. (I’ve emphasized the passives.)
- "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (v. 4).
- "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (v. 5).
- "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (v. 5).
- "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (v. 7).
- "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (v. 9).
Without spelling it out, it's obvious that it is God who comforts and gives the inheritance.
He alone brings satisfaction and
mercy. He is the One who names the
peacemakers as sons of God.
Here are another couple examples of the divine
passive from the epistles:
- For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Romans 3:28).
- ...knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold (1 Peter 1:18).
So why do Jesus and Paul and Peter use passive voice?
Certainly not to conceal divine action. I think "divine passives" do just the opposite. In an understated way they highlight the direct connection
between our blessings and God’s power and grace.
The danger is not making that connection. Somebody is
responsible for letting the air out of those footballs, right? And when it
comes to the daily blessings we enjoy, Somebody is looking out for us every
moment of the day. Let’s watch the “passives” and make sure we remember where
the action is coming from.
- Guess what? A check arrived in the mail today…Oh, really? God is answering our prayers!
- My body isn’t so achy this morning - I feel better. Thank You, Jesus!
- Billy brought home a report card and it was all A’s and B’s. The Lord has really helped him, huh? That’s awesome!
- Man, that was lucky! That car almost hit us! Jesus protected us, didn’t He? Let’s praise Him.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to
you (Matthew 6:33).
