In his otherwise excellent book, Not by Faith Alone, Robert Sungenis favors interpreting ἐνεργουμένη (from ἐνεργέω) in Gal 5:6 as a middle, not passive:
In what other ways does Paul describe how faith works in salvation? One
of his more succinct teachings is found in Gl 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is
faith expressing itself through love.” Here Paul defines and qualifies the
faith he had described earlier in the epistle. Faith and love are coupled
together in what seems to be an inseparable bond. In regard to justification,
love is not portrayed as a mere appendage of faith but a necessary element and
addition to faith. Paul supports this notion as he develops the theme of love
just eight verses later in Gl 5:14: “The entire law is summed up in a single command:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Robert A. Sungenis, Not By Faith Alone: The
Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification [2d ed.; State
Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2009], 67)
In the footnote to the above, Sungenis wrote that:
A more literal [of Gal 5:6] translation would be “but faith working
through love.” Moreover, translations denoting the middle voice of ενεργουμενη
(“working”) could just as well be passive since both have the same form in
Greek. The passive would denote that faith is being formed or acted upon by
love. The passive voice of ενεργουμενη, however, is not frequently used in the
New Testament. (Ibid., 67 n. 92)
The
following from Eastern Orthodox scholar David Bradshaw sheds important light on
the use of this and related issues, including how the historical Protestant reading
of Gal 5:6 is called into question:
It is true that the Greek-English
Lexicon of Liddel and Scott and the Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature of Bauer, Gingrich, and
Danker do recognize a middle sense. Upon examination, however, the evidence
they offer is ambiguous. Liddell and Scott cite only “Ep. Rom. 7.5,
al.”-that is, the very verses of the New Testament that are in question. Bauer
offers more detail, citing four supposed examples of the middle in
extra-biblical literature. The first is τα
της πολιορκιας
ενηργειτο from Diodorus Siculus, which Bauer translates
“the siege ‘went into effect,’ ‘began.’” To take the verb as passive (“the siege
was begun”) make equally good sense, so this passage is neutral as evidence.
The second example is τα δε ασωματα
αει ενεργειται
at Corpus Hermeticum XII.11. Taken in context ενεργειται here must in fact be passive, and it is so
rendered in the standard French and English translations. Finally Beuer cites
two passages from the Apostolic Fathers . . . 1 Clement 60.1 and Epistle of
Barnabas 1.7. The first gives us τα
ενεργουμενα, translated by Bauer as “the forces at work,”
but by Lightfoot and Lampe as “operations,” i.e., acts performed. The second
gives τα καθ’ εκαστα βλοποντες
ενεργουμενα, translated by Bauer as “we see how one thing
after the other works itself out,” but by Lightfoot as “seeing each of these
things severally coming to pass,” and classified by Lampe as passive. It is
also worth noting that Lampe, who surely knew the patristic literature as well
as anyone, gives only active and passive senses in his long entry on ενεργεω.
The second argument in favor of taking
energeisthai as passive is the testimony of the Church Fathers. From the
ante-Nicene era there are only a few hints suggesting how the verses containing
energeisthai were interpreted, but they confirm that it was assumed to
be passive. Clement of Alexandria, in discussing the relative merits of spoken
and written discourse, asks “If, then, both proclaim the Word—the one by
writing, the other by speech—are not both then to be approved, making, as they
do, faith active by love (ενεργον
την πιστιν
δια τηνς
αγαπης πεποιημενοι)?”
(Stromata I.1.4) This is clearly an allusion to Galatians 5:6, with
faith viewed not as acting through love but as being made active by
love. Tertullian, in translating the same verse renders δι’ αγαπης
ενεργουμενη as per dilectionem
perfici. (Adversus Marionem V.4.11) He similarly translates δια του
νομου ενηργειτο
in Romans 7:5
as per legem efficiebantur. (De Monogamia 13.2)
Among later Fathers, the most
illuminating for our purposes is St. John Chrysostom. Several passages indicate
not only that he took energeisthai as passive, but that he assumed his
audience would do so as well. The first is in Homily 12 on Romans. Chrysostom
comments that St. Paul, in describing the “motions of sin” (Rom 7:5), “did not
say’ which the members wrought,’ but ‘which were wrought in our members,’ to
show that the origin of wickedness is from elsewhere, from the thoughts which
act, not from the members which are acted upon.” (PG 60:498) Clearly Chrysostom
here takes ενηργειτο as passive, the active agent being sinful thoughts. A similar
assumption can be observed in Homily 2 on 2 Corinthians. Commenting on the
phrase παρακλησεως . . . πασχομεν (1.6), Chrysostom
writes:
Your salvation is then more specially put into action, that is
displayed, increased, heightened, when it possesses endurance, when it suffers
and bears all things nobly. So the activity [ενεργεια, perhaps “actuality”]
of salvation does not consist in doing evil but in suffering evil. And he did
not say, “which works” but “which is wrought,” to show that, along with their
own readiness, grace contributed much by working with them. (PG 61:392)
Here again Chrysostom clearly takes as ενεργουμενης. The active agent he
identifies as divine grace.
There is also an interesting passage where, although energeisthai is
not found in the biblical text, Chrysostom comments in its absence. Discussing
the statement that “all these [spiritual gifts] worketh (ενεργει) that one and the
selfsame spirit” (1 Cor 12:11), Chrysostom considers how it might be
interpreted by one who denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit:
But it will be said, “He does it
actuated (ενεργειται) by God.” Nay, he nowhere says this,
but you feign it. For when he says [of the Father], “who works (ενεργει) all in all” (v. 6), he says this concerning
men; you will hardly say that among those men he numbers the Spirit, even if
you were manifestly doting an in madness. For because he has said “through the
Spirit” (v. 8), that you might not suppose this word “through” to denote
inferiority or being actuated (ενεργειται),
he adds that the Spirit acts (ενεργει), not is
actuated (ενεργειται), and acts “as he will,” not as he is
bidden.” (Homilies on 1 Corinthians 29.26 [PG 61:245-46)
Clearly this argument hinges on the
contrast of ενεργει as active and ενεργειται as passive. If Chrysostom even suspected that
his audience might suppose ενεργειται
to be middle, he would have had to pose the argument in different terms. (David
Bradshaw, Divine Energies and Divine Action: Exploring the Essence-Energies
Distinction [St. Paul, Minn.: Iota Publications, 2023], 40-43)
. . . it can be shown that energeisthai
in antiquity is never middle, but only passive, and furthermore that Paul’s
use of the term was uniformly taken as passive by the Church Fathers. So
understood the meaning of energeisthai falls into place as correlative
to energein, meaning either (depending on the context) “to be acted
upon” or “to be made effective, to be energized.” That energeisthai is
passive was already recognized around the turn of the last century by two
eminent New Testament scholars, Joseph B. Mayor and J. Armitage Robinson.
Unfortunately, their work was ignored by most subsequent translators and
lexicographers, as it is, for example, in the article on energein in the
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. The major cause of this
oversight would seem to be the legacy of the Reformation of the major texts
bearing on the question of sola fide is Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith di’
agapēs energoumenē.” If one takes energoumenē here as middle then
the meaning is (as translated by the KJV) “faith which worketh by love.” If one
takes it as passive then the meaning is either “faith made effective by love,”
or more pointedly, “faith energized by love.” Obviously an adherent of sola
fide must insist upon the first of these readings, and that is what Luther
does in his commentary on Galatians. (David Bradshaw, Divine Energies and
Divine Action: Exploring the Essence-Energies Distinction [St. Paul, Minn.:
Iota Publications, 2023], 11)
[Examples
of energeisthai is passive, not middle, in the NT]
One is Colossians 1:29, where Paul
refers to himself as “striving according to Christ’s working (or energy, ενεργεια), which is being made effective (or
energized, ενεργουμενην) in me” (Col
1:29, my trans.). This verse beings out well the synergistic tendency of Paul’s
thought. On the one hand the divine energy is at work within Paul, transforming
him, so that from this standpoint he is the object of God’s activity; on the
other it finds expression in Paul’s own activity, so that Paul’s free agency
and that of God coincide. Indeed, not only do the actions Paul alludes to in
this passage exhibit full engagement and self-control, they do so more than did
his actions prior to his conversion. As the story is told in Acts, Saul was
trapped in self-deception which works in him is also his own, more truly than
anything he did was his own before he ceased to “kick against the pricks” (Acts
9:5).
Other passages also bring out what I
believe we may call, without exaggeration, Paul’s synergistic ontology. One of
particular clarity is Philippians 2:12-13: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out (κατεργαζεσθε) your own
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you (ο ενεργων
εν υμιν) both to
will and to do (ενεργειν) of his good pleasure.” Here the
exhortation to act is coupled with a reminder that it is God who is acting.
Neither negates the other; the Philippians are both free agents responsible for
their own salvation, and the arena in which God works to bring about that
salvation. Bearing this duality in mind, one could legitimately translate, “it
is God who imparts energy in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure,” where “to do” refers both to the Philippians’ action and to
God’s action as it is expressed in them. This rendering helps bring out why for
Paul there is no contradiction in urging the Philippians to do something that
he also sees as the work of God. The peculiar nature of God’s activity is that
it imparts the energy to do his will, although this energy must be freely
expressed or “worked out” to be effective.
Finally let us note a passage which
was of utmost importance for the Greek Fathers, the description of the gifts of
the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12.
Wherefore I give you to understand,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no
man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of
administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operation (ενεργηματων), but it is the same God which worketh (ο ενεργων) all in
all. . . . For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the
word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to
another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of
miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another
divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all
these worketh (ενεργει) that one and the selfsame spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will. (12:3-11)
This passage begins by asserting that
even such an ordinary and voluntary action as calling Jesus “Lord” requires the
cooperation of the Spirit. It goes on to list a variety of spiritual gifts,
each one an energēma (something performed) of the Spirit. They include
not only extraordinary gifts like the working of miracles, but also more
ordinary qualities such as faith and the “word of wisdom. “Again, there is no
dividing line between the natural and the divine. Any believer is called to a
life of continual cooperation with the Spirit, a cooperation which can manifest
itself in any number of ways both exceptional and mundane. (David Bradshaw, Divine
Energies and Divine Action: Exploring the Essence-Energies Distinction [St.
Paul, Minn.: Iota Publications, 2023], 12-14)
Unlike superficially similar pairs
such as drama/dran and poiēsis/poiein, energia and energein
always referred to a kind of activity that can in the right circumstances, be
entered into and shared by another. This means not simply that the two agents
share the same activity, but that the activity of the agent who is the source
of their common energeia vivifies and informs the recipient, while at
the same time enabling the recipient to act authentically on its own behalf.
This sense of energeia is
prominent in the New Testament, especially the Pauline writings. St. Paul
speaks, for example, of the divine energeia that is being realized or
made effective (ενεργουμενην) in him (Col
1:29). Here it is the divine energy realized within him that enables him to
carry out his apostleship, thereby becoming most truly himself. Similarly, Paul
explains to the Philippians that “it is God who works in you (ο ενεργων
εν υμιν) both to
will and to do (ενεργειν) of his good pleasure” (2:13). One
could perhaps better translate, “it is God who imparts energy in you
both to will and to go of his good pleasure,” where “to do” refers both to the
Philippians’ action and to God’s action as it is expressed in them. In some
passages the divine energy also takes on a more cosmic dimension. St. Paul
describes the Resurrection as “the working (ενεργειαν) of his [that is, God’s] great might which he
accomplished (ενηργησεν) in Christ when he raised him from
the dead” (Eph 1:19-20). Elsewhere he refers to “the working (ενεργειαν) whereby he [Christ] is able to subdue all
things to himself” (Phil 3:21). In these passages, the divine energy is a power
that pervades all things, governing them and working miracles upon occasion
according to God’s will.
Pauline statements such as these
helped make energeia, within early Christian writing, almost a technical
term for the activity of spiritual agents, whether God, Christ, or demons. This
was particularly true when such energy was seen as capable of entering into,
empowering, and transforming the agency of creatures. Justin Martyr, for
example, says that Moses “by the inspiration and energy (ενεργειαν) of God took brass and made it into the
figure of a cross.” (1 Apology 60 [PG 6:471A) Likewise, in the Apostolic
Constitutions the author, speaking as one of the Apostles, states that on
Pentecost, “the Lord Jesus sent us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we were
filled with his energy (επλη
σθημεν αυτου
της ενεργειας) and spoke
with new tongues.” (Apostolic Constitutions V.20.49 [PG 1:896C]) In such
contexts, “energy” seems to be the only possible translation, for the term
refers specifically to an activity that by its presence empowers and vivifies
that in which it is present. (David Bradshaw, Divine Energies and Divine Action:
Exploring the Essence-Energies Distinction [St. Paul, Minn.: Iota
Publications, 2023], 146-47)
The twelve occurrences of the two
terms in the Apostolic Fathers all refer to the action of God, Christ, angels,
or demons. For example, in the Shepherd of Hermas purity, holiness, and
contentment are energeiai of the angel of righteousness which
accompanies every man, and anger, bitterness, gluttony, lust, and pride are energeiai
of the angel of wickedness. (Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.102) The
Epistle of Barnabas refers to Satan simply as ho energōn, “the active
one,” and 1 Clement speaks of how God makes manifest the everlasting structures
of the world by the deed he performs (των
ενεργουμενων). (Epistle of
Barnabas 2.1; 1 Clement 60.1) (Ibid.,
9)
Bradshaw
also wrote the following helpful notes on “synergy”:
To speak of synergy could be
misleading if it suggested a picture of two equal agents who simply choose to
work together. Plainly, since in these cases one is the Creator and the other a
creature, the action of the latter depends for its realty upon the active
support of the former. I take it that Paul interprets this notion in light of
the common experience (which he had vividly shared) of feeing that one’s
actions were not truly one’s own while one was mired in sin and self-deception.
On his view, synergy, the cooperation of God and man, is neither a symmetrical
relation nor one in which the divine overpowers and replaces the human. It is
rather one in which the human becomes fully human by embracing the
divine. To obey the divine commandments is, on this view, to fully realize
one’s own identity by affirming and cooperating with God’s creative intent.
This is not a radically new idea; indeed, it is a prominent theme in the Old
Testament. (For example, in Psalm 1, and in the psalms of repentance, such as
Psalm 51) What is new is the use of the vocabulary of energeia to
express it. (Ibid., 14, emphasis in original)