Matthew 25:41

The preposition ὑπό + genitive is the more usual, and explicit way in which agency is expressed:

ἡτοίμασται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός

"prepared under/by the Father" (Matt. 20:23)

However, this is not the rule, and especially with the perfect passive tense it often expresses agency.

Smyth §1488: Dative of the Agent

The dative of agent with a perfect passive is a well-established usage in classical and Koine Greek. Used especially with:

1. 1. Perfect and pluperfect passives, and

   2. Verbal adjectives in -τός and -τέος.

Importantly, Smyth notes:

“The notion of agency does not belong to the dative, but it is a natural inference that the person interested is the agent.”

So the core idea is that the dative expresses the person concerned / interested, and from that concern, agency may be inferred — hence the ambiguity.

Examples:

• ἐμοὶ καὶ τούτοις πέπρα_κται → “it has been done by me and these men” (D. 19.205).

• τοσαῦτά μοι εἰρήσθω → “let so much have been said by me” (L. 24.4).

• ἐψηφίσθαι τῇ βουλῇ → “let it have been decreed by the senate” (inscr.).

These are exactly parallel to τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ — so it can be “prepared by the accuser/devil” if the devil is construed as the interested/acting party.

BDF §1186

• BDF states that the dative sometimes denotes the agent with the perfect and pluperfect passive, rarely with other passive tenses.

• Examples:

  • ἐξετάσαι τί πέπρακται τοῖς ἄλλοις → “what has been done by the others.”

  • ἐπειδὴ αὐτοῖς παρεσκευάστο → “when preparation had been made by them.”

  • πολλαὶ θεραπείαι τοῖς ἰατροῖς εὑρήνται → “many cures have been discovered by physicians.”

Matthew 25:41:

• ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ

  • As dative of interest: “prepared for the devil.”

  • As dative of agent (in Smyth’s sense): “prepared by the devil.”

Thus both readings are grammatically defensible. The decisive factor is context and usage preference:

• NT Greek usually leans toward “for” (dative of advantage/disadvantage) in such constructions.

• But grammarians (Smyth §1488, BDF §1186, §1187) confirm the agentive possibility is not only theoretically possible but attested.

(cf. Smyth §1488 - dative of the agent, esp. perfects/passives and BDF §1186, §1187)