Luke 12:21

Storing up for Someone Else

The form αὑτῷ (dative singular masculine of αὐτός with a rough breathing) is not a true reflexive pronoun but a later orthographic convention used primarily to disambiguate αὐτός from the definite article (ὁ), particularly in continuous script (scriptio continua) manuscripts.

In Classical Greek, true reflexivity is expressed with ἑαυτῷ (from ἑαυτός), and the use of αὑτῷ in a reflexive sense would be considered ungrammatical. However, in Koine Greek (the lingua franca of Hellenistic world), especially in New Testament usage, αὑτῷ occasionally functions semantically as reflexive when context identifies the subject and object as the same person.

It must be noted however, that early Greek manuscripts lacked the diacritical marks, including breathings and accents; thus, distinctions such as αὐτῷ vs. αὑτῷ are entirely the product of later editorial activity and should not be treated as definitive for determining reflexivity in the original text.

The proper reflexive pronoun, ἑαυτῷ, is indeed used many times in the New Testament (NT), as it consistently marks reflexivity, i.e., actions performed by the subject upon themselves. The fact that Luke 12:21 uses αὐτῷ (non-reflexive) rather than the expected ἑαυτῷ is a significant detail and one that stands out as extremely rare in the NT. Let's unpack this further:

Why Does it Matter?

In Koine Greek, reflexive constructions are almost always formed with the pronoun ἑαυτού, ἑαυτῇ, ἑαυτῷ, which is derived from the word ἑαυτός. This reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same entity, and it is unambiguous in that regard.

Examples of common reflexive constructions in the New Testament:

• Mark 8:34:  ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν — "Let him deny himself."

• Matthew 14:15: ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς βρώματα — "they might buy for themselves food"

• Luke 9:23: ἀρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν — "Let him deny himself."

• Acts 20:28: Προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς — "Take heed to yourselves"

Why Is the Use of αὐτῷ in Luke 12:21 Noteworthy?

The phrase θησαυρίζων αὐτῷ in Luke 12:21 ("storing up for him") is out of the ordinary. Normally, you would expect θησαυρίζων ἑαυτῷ, which would clearly indicate "storing up for his own self", implying a reflexive action where the man is accumulating wealth for his own benefit.

In Luke 12:21, however, the non-reflexive αὐτῷ (dative of αὐτός) is used, which suggests that the man is storing up wealth for someone else, not for himself. The phrase could be understood as "storing up for him (another person)" — possibly referring to God or another individual, depending on the interpretation.

This deviation from the expected reflexive form (ἑαυτῷ) is extremely rare in the NT. In the wider New Testament, Luke 12:21 is the only place where αὐτῷ is used in this way for what would normally be a reflexive verb. The pronoun αὐτός is the third most frequent word in the NT, behind "and" and "the."