The meaning of καθιστημι is
not doubtful. Construed with εις it signifies “to establish, to put into a position,
into a condition”; for example εις
αρχην, εις αποριαν, “to make a head, to put into embarrassment.”
Construed with two accusatives (of which, in the passive, one becomes the
subject and the other the predicate), it signifies “to establish, to institute,
to subject and the other the predicate), it signifies “to establish, to
institute, to constitute, to render someone this or that”; πολλακις με ερημον και απορον κατεστησεν
(Plato, Phil., 16 B). The other two examples in the New Testament are
very clear. James iv, 4: Quimque voluerit amicus esse saeculis hujus,
inimicus Dei constituitur (καθισταται – is
really rendered such) ; 2 Peter i, 8: Haec si vobiscum adsint, et
superent, non vacuos nec sine fructu vos constituent (καθιστησιν =
render you, make you). (Fernand Prat, The Theology of Saint Paul, 2
vols. [trans. John L. Stoddard; Westminster, Md.: The Newman Bookshop, 1926], 1:218
n. 1)
