Those seeming... (Mark 10:42)

[lee_merrill]

Wouldn't the natural reading of "οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν" be "those thinking to rule the nations", i.e. those who are thinking they are ruling? rather than "those who are thought to rule" (re NIV, NAU, NET, etc.) which would seem better expressed as "οἱ δοκοῦμενοι ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν"?

Blessings,
Lee

[John Reece]

Wouldn't the natural reading of "οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν" be "those thinking to rule the nations", i.e. those who are thinking they are ruling? rather than "those who are thought to rule" (re NIV, NAU, NET, etc.) which would seem better expressed as "οἱ δοκοῦμενοι ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν"?

No, the semantic range of δοκέω includes both transitive and intransitive senses: the transitive sense is of subjective opinion; the intransitive sense is of appearance, i.e., how something or someone is seen or thought to be, which is the sense of the word in Mark 10:42.

Here is the relevant section of the BDAG entry:

δοκέω
2. to appear to one’s understanding, seem, be recognized as
a. intransitive (Hom. et al.; so mostly LXX)
[snip]
β. be influential, be recognized as being something, have a reputation (cp. Sus 5; 2 Macc 1:13). οἱ δοκοῦντες (Eur., Hec. 295; Petosiris, fgm. 6 ln. 58 οἱ δοκοῦντες = the prominent dignitaries; Herodian 6, 1, 2; Jos., C. Ap. 1, 67) the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added (X., Cyr. 7, 1, 41; Pla., Gorg. 472a, Euthd. 303c οἱ δοκοῦντες εἶναί τι; Plut. Mor. 212b δοκοῦντας εἶναί τινας; Epict., Ench. 33, 12; Herodian 4, 2, 5; Philo, Mos. 2, 241) vss. 6a, 9 (Pla., Apol. 6, 21b οἱ δοκοῦντες σοφοὶ εἶναι). WFoerster, D. δοκοῦντες in Gal 2: ZNW 36, ’38, 286–92 (against him, HGreeven, ZNW 44, ’52, 41 n. 100).—οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν those who are reputed to be rulers Mk 10:42 (cp. Plut., Arat. 1047 [43, 2] ᾧ δουλεύουσιν οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν).

From The Gospel of Mark (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), page 418, by R. T. France:

[....] Jesus takes up the idea of royal privilege from the brothers' request and universalizes it with regard to ἔθνη. While ἔθνη could be used here in its widest sense (this is how authority is exercised in any nation or political unit), the plural far more often in the NT denotes the Gentiles. It is not so much, however, that Jesus wishes to acquit Jewish leaders of the sort of attitude to authority which Gentiles display (the Herod dynasty would have offered clear enough examples), but rather that if you wanted to look outside politically subject Israel to those who held real power, οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν, rather than simply οἱ ἄρχοντες does not question the reality of their rule, but rather draws attention to the fact that they are seen to rule, that their status is publicly recognized. Cf. οἱ δοκοῦντες for influential people in Gal. 2:2, 6, and with infinitive 2:9; see further G. Kittel, TDNT 2.233.

[lee_merrill]

Thanks! Now I do still wonder if "those appearing to rule" might be a bit of a slam, pointing out in a wry way that they may not actually be the ones ruling—along the line of Gal. 2:9, "those esteemed to be pillars". As explained here: "As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism." (Gal. 2:6), with the same word throughout these verses, δοκέω.

Blessings,
Lee

[John Reece]

Thanks! Now I do still wonder if "those appearing to rule" might be a bit of a slam, pointing out in a wry way that they may not actually be the ones ruling—along the line of Gal. 2:9, "those esteemed to be pillars". As explained here: "As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism." (Gal. 2:6), with the same word throughout these verses, δοκέω.

Context, context, context.

[lee_merrill]

Context, context, context.

So I was thinking the context is a bit ironic, especially in Galatians!

Blessings,
Lee