Word Studies

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Ephorao (Luke 1:25; Acts 4:29) also has the idea of divine vision, only in each of these cases it is God who does the beholding: “The Lord hath looked on me (said Elizabeth), to take away my reproach” (Luke 1:25). And the disciples prayed: “Lord, behold their threatenings” (Acts 4:29).

 

Linguistically akin to this word is epopteuo and its noun epoptes. Classically, these two may refer to an official investigator or, very differently, to one who is initiated into the secret meaning of the Greek mysteries. Both usages operate in the NT Peter twice refers to the official adversaries of the gospel — Roman governors, or pagan husbands — “beholding” the “good works” and “chaste behaviour” of the believers (1 Peter 2:12; 3:2). But Peter also declares how he and James and John “were eyewitnesses of the Lord’s majesty” in that most sacred mystery of the Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16).

 

With a different prefix, pro-orao signifies a seeing beforehand: “I foresaw the Lord always before my face” (Acts 2:25). So also in Acts 21:29.

 

The intensified form of the word kathorao comes only once with reference to “the invisible things (of God) being clearly seen” (Romans 1:20). This passage is usually understood as referring to ignorant Gentiles deducing the character and attributes of God from what they can appreciate of His works in nature. Actually the words have nothing to do with this, but the details are too complex for exposition here. Certainly the gist of the passage has not been “clearly seen” by the learned commentators, and they have a Bible as well as nature to help them out (see “Bible Studies”, ch. 13.02).

 

Proverbs-eideo has the same meaning: “The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached beforehand the gospel unto Abraham” (Galatians 3:8). (Cp also Acts 2:31.)

 

Another extremely common word for “see” is eido, which through Latin has become the ancestor of “visible”, though the derivation is almost invisible. Eido is peculiar in having no present active form, so horao does duty for it instead. Thus the usage of the two words goes in step. Yet another peculiarity is that the perfect tense oida has shifted in meaning from “I have seen” to “I know (because I have seen, with the eye or mentally)”. This is really a separate study.

 

Special mention must be made of ide and idou, two imperative forms of eideo. These are nearly always translated “Behold!” or “Lo!” (which in archaic English was originally “Loke!”). In the gospels these words are signposts signalling either a most surprising situation or one which calls especially for the reader’s attention. Matthew uses them all over the place as he recaptures the startling character of the words and miracles of his Lord. But John has little use for them until he comes to write Revelation, and then he cannot do without idou.

 

Next on the list is skopeo, which, as its use in microscope and telescope implies, emphasizes the notion of careful scrutiny. In the field of personal relationships it is equivalent to “keep your eye on So-and-So.”

 

The first object of this exercise is self: “Take heed therefore that the light that is in thee be not darkness” (Luke 11:35). “Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). And yet Philippians 2:4 seems to say the opposite: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” But of course here Paul is deprecating a selfish concern for one’s own affairs. The apostle has another implied warning against such a worldly spirit: “We look (skopeo) not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen (blepo) are temporal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

 

But there are certain others whom it is necessary to keep an eye on: “Mark them which cause divisions” (Romans 16:17). Why didn’t Paul say: ‘Withdraw fellowship, and then you won’t need to worry about them any more’?

 

In much pleasanter tone he also exhorts: “Be followers together of me, and mark them which so walk” (Philippians 3:17). Brethren are to be scrutinized not as an excellent field for criticism but when it is evident that they set an admirable example. Indeed, they are to be “kept an eye on” as a target to aim at, a spiritual example to emulate. Paul, making reference to the Greek games, uses skopos in a similar fashion: “I press toward the Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

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Episkopeo, more emphatic, means “scrutinize carefully”, as in Hebrews 12:15: “Looking carefully lest any man (self, or others?) fall short of the grace of God”. It probably means taking good care of those who waver in the Faith.

 

A small problem arises from the solitary use of historeo in Galatians 1:18: “After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter.” The well-established classical meaning of historeo is “to make inquiry”. But what about? About Peter’s attitude to the preaching of the gospel to Gentiles? About Paul’s own good standing with the leaders of the church? It is difficult to be sure. Some commentators sidestep the issue by citing examples from Josephus and Clement of Rome to show that the word might mean just “visit”. But it is difficult to believe that Paul would make that long journey to Jerusalem just for the sake of a friendly visit. The context suggests one of the two answers just mentioned.

 

Another solo occurrence is that of muopazo: “He that lacketh these things (a grasp of the ‘exceeding great and precious promises’, v 4) is blind and cannot see afar off” (2 Peter 1:9). The Greek word is the English “myopic”, short-sighted. Obviously the meaning is: lacking spiritual discernment. How experience confirms this! One of the best tokens of spiritual maturity is a deep appreciation of the covenants of promise, and their future fulfilment.

 

There remains for consideration the one occurrence of katoptrizo: “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). A katoptron is a mirror. The only Biblical use of this word is about the mirrors of the tabernacle women being turned into a bronze laver (Exodus 38:8, LXX). The RV reading is probably correct: “reflecting as a mirror”. But since your face cannot be reflected if you don’t look into the mirror, the idea of the AV is implied also. The allusion is, of course, to Moses’ face reflecting the glory of the angel who ministered the Law to him in Sinai. That was a fading glory. But we, keeping close to Christ, reflect his glory in a way which grows and intensifies with time and experience —  “from glory to glory”.

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Look Into

 

Parakupto is really a very vivid word. It conveys the idea of stooping down in order to peer closely at something of absorbing interest. It is used of both Mary Magdalene and the apostle John “stooping” to look into the tomb of Jesus. And with this still vivid in his mind, Peter, writing of the sufferings and glory of Christ, declares “which things angels desire to look into”. The hymn is not all poetic imagination in the couplet:

 

“The angel watchers of the skies

Look down with sad and wondering eyes.”

 

James harnesses the same lovely idea: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and so continueth, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (1:25).

 

What a contrast between these examples, and the use in the LXX of 1Ch 15:29, about “Michal (David’s wife) looking out at a window” and despising her husband’s devotion and exhilaration before the Lord!

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M

 

Mad

 

This is easy. The Greek word is mania (with the verb mainomai). And this is exactly what it means in every place, as the context plainly shows: “He hath a demon, and is mad” (John 10:20). “Paul, thou art beside thyself (said Festus: Acts 26:24); much learning doth make thee mad.” The Roman governor was, in effect, saying to Paul: ‘That’s just what you told us yourself ten minutes ago!’ — for had not the apostle declared: “and being exceeding mad against them (the Christians), I persecuted them even unto strange cities” (26:11)? Here the phrase is often read as meaning “very angry”. But no! Paul meant what he said: In those violent days he had behaved like a lunatic.

 

Similarly Rhoda the servant-girl was declared to be crazy because she announced the immediate answer to the prayers for Peter’s well-being (Acts 12:15). Those eager to speak with tongues in the ecclesia at Corinth were warned against the risk of being deemed mad because of their excitability (1 Corinthians 14:23).

 

Mercy, Pity

 

The Greek word was “distress in the house”, i.e. strong family sympathy, as its basic meaning. The very idea is enshrined in the lovely words of Psalm 103:13: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord...” Paul’s phrase also: “Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

 

The much more common Greek word eleos means “mercy” in the usual sense of compassion and help, as when blind men cried after Jesus: “Lord, have mercy on us.”

 

But more commonly eleos means the forgiveness of sins. Zacharias celebrated “the tender mercy of our God” in the gracious work of his son and his son’s successor (Luke 1:78). So also in James’ phrase: “mercy rejoiceth against judgment...” (2:13). And Peter: “according to his gracious mercy he saved us...” (1 Peter 1:3). Always readers should be on the look-out for this specialised meaning, or much of value can be lost.

 

In at least three places the double meaning, of (a) compassion and (b) forgiveness, shines through. In the parable of the two debtors: “Shouldest thou not have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” (Matthew 18:33). How close is this to: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us”? Again, the Samaritan is described as “he that had mercy on him (the stricken wayfarer)” (Luke 10:37). But that parable is also a picture of the redeeming work of Christ (see “Gospels”, ch. 121); so the inquirer who responded thus was perhaps nearer the Mark than he knew — or did he?

 

In the OT “mercy and truth” uniformly carries the idea of “God’s covenants of promise”. There is complete consistency in this. See “Bible Studies”, ch. 17.15. Indeed, in not a few places the two words are used separately with this idiomatic intent.

 

An interesting little problem remains in the NT use of “mercy”. As a greeting, “grace and mercy” is not infrequent, and tempts the reader to see it as a NT equivalent of “mercy and truth”. But to Timothy and Titus, Paul writes: “Grace, mercy, and truth”. Why?

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O

 

Obtain

 

Out of nine different Greek words translated “obtain”, there is one — lambano — which has the specific meaning of “to obtain by lot”.

 

The Roman soldiers cast lots as to who should have the seamless robe of Jesus (John 19:24).

 

Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, found, as the result of the casting of lots, that to him would fall the honour of burning incense before the Lord at the time of the morning sacrifice (Luke 1:9). Apparently there were so many priests available for this coveted office that decision for each day was by lot.

 

The same word is used about Judas: “he obtained part of this (apostolic) ministry”, declared Peter (Acts 1:17). Here the word seems to imply that the office of treasurer was decided by lot.

 

Peter also implies, apparently, that the call of the gospel, which certainly does not come to all men, is decided likewise by the will and choice of God. There is nothing haphazard about the way the gospel comes into a man’s life. Hence Peter’s description of his fellow-believers as “them that have obtained like precious faith with us (apostles)” (2 Peter 1:1).

Overcome (in victory)

 

Nikao means, quite simply, achieving a victory. In the NT almost all the 27 occurrences speak of a moral victory. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). And the repeated promise in Revelation, “To him that overcometh”, clearly has nothing to do with physical fighting. The same stands true in such OT passages as: “that Thou mightest be justified (LXX: might overcome) when thou judgest” (Psalm 51:4; the Greek M.V in Romans 3:4 should not be read as a passive).

 

One remarkable exception presents itself — if indeed it is an exception. “These (the Beast and his ten kings) shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them” (Revelation 17:14). Is it a moral victory that is spoken of here, achieved without any violence? And if so, how? Or does the context (“make war”) require that this be read as an exception to the general NT usage?

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P

 

Pass By, Pass Away

 

There seems to be little doubt that “pass by” is the more precise meaning of parago, as in John 9:1: “And as Jesus passed by he saw...a man blind from his birth” (8:59 also). Sometimes the word is paraporeuomai, essentially the same in meaning, perhaps with the idea of “journey”. Luke 18:36 is noteworthy: “they passed through (the gate of Jericho en route for Jerusalem)”.

 

Yet in three places it may be questioned whether the AV “pass away” is presenting quite the right idea. Is it true that “the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:31)? Two thousand years later the world is just as much with us, isn’t it? Perhaps Paul meant: “the world passeth by”, i.e. it is a passing show, and you are to be content to stand aside and treat it as such.

 

So also in 1 John 2:8,17. Ought not this to read: “The darkness is being made to pass you by” (present indicative passive)?

 

Two examples out of Paul’s second journey merit attention. The apostle and his party “came through” Mysia — the word is used from the point of view of Luke awaiting them in Troas (see “Acts”, HAW, ch. 65). And in his speech at Athens, Paul explains: “As I came through (your city)...” (Acts 17:23), thus plainly implying: ‘I had no intention to stay and run a campaign here.’

 

Specially, there must be examined the highly expressive word describing how priest and Levite both “passed by on the other side”, when seeing the stricken traveller (Luke 10:31,32). Parerchomai is not sufficient to express the Lord’s disgust that they “came through” on that road; they carefully “came through over against” the poor man; “passed by on the other side” is excellent translating.

Pasture

 

The good shepherd “goes in and out” (as a leader of the flock) to “find pasture” (nome) for his flock (John 10:9). Is the word used here in deliberate contrast to nomos, the Law? And it may be that in 2 Timothy 2:17 Paul had the same play on words in mind. “Their word (i.e. of these Judaist teachers) will eat, will have nome, as doth a canker” — this last word may mean cancer or gangrene. Again, possibly, Paul wrote with Proverbs 24:15 (LXX) in mind.

Perverse Disputings

 

Diatribo describes the action of ceaselessly rubbing away (at inflamed eyes or an itch on the skin). But the word here in 1 Timothy 6:5 has an extra prefix: paradiatribo, as though to suggest men who are constantly coming alongside to renew their irritating arguments.

 

And the word that accompanies this, translated in AV by “men of corrupt minds”, is another eloquent polysyllable: diephtharmenos — not just corrupt, but utterly corrupt. And this perfect participle seems to imply: ‘they have already become like this, and they so continue...hopeless!’

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Pierce

 

The piercing of the side of Jesus with a spear provides the only NT occurrence. But the more intensive form of the word, katanutto or -nusso, is used in Acts 2:37: “they were pricked in their heart”, with direct allusion to John 19:34: the horror of their sin in destroying the Son of God was brought home to them. The Acts passage also seems to look back to Psalm 4:4, where the LXX is markedly different from the AV “commune”. See also Isaiah 6:5.

Preach

 

The NT has a bundle of words for “preach”, each with its own special emphasis. Those in most common use are the most straightforward.

 

Euangelizomai is, literally, to carry a message of good. A lovely word! This is what the gospel is.

 

Katangello intensifies the notion of one who bears a message, and consequently is well rendered in RV by “proclaim”. If anything, this translation is hardly vigorous enough. For instance, Paul’s “Him declare I unto you” really means, ‘I am here to tell you plainly about the God you say you don’t know’ (Acts 17:23, and also vv 3,13). The AV of 1 Corinthians 11:26: “ye do shew the Lord’s death (by the formal remembrance of him) till he come”, is not strong enough. “Proclaim, openly declare” would be better. But how is this done if all others are shut out?

 

More emphatic even than this is diangello. “Suffer me first to go and bury my father,” said a disciple of sorts. “No,” said Jesus, “go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). Here the AV makes no difference from any other word “preach”. But here Jesus surely had his mind on the OT. For in the LXX this word comes very rarely, but three times it refers to the sounding of Jubilee trumpets (Leviticus 25:9; Joshua 6:10), when freedom was proclaimed to those in bondage (there may be something of the same idea in Exodus 9:16; Psalm 2:7). Now read this idea back into Luke 9:60.

 

Kerusso means to fulfil the office of a herald. Hence, appropriately, it is first used with reference to John the Baptist as Messiah’s forerunner (Matthew 3:1). There is always behind the use of this word the idea of one who sends    the herald: “How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” (Romans 10:14,15).

 

Parrhesiazomai means “with plain or confident or bold speech”. Nearly always there is the implication of opposition or persecution or the risk of these. Saul of Tarsus, now become Paul the disciple, “preached boldly” at Damascus (Acts 9:27). Years later he besought the Ephesians to harness their prayers to his work, “that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak” (6:20). Is there a hint here that he was somewhat daunted by opposition? In Acts 18:26 there is a characteristic picture of Apollos “speaking boldly” in the synagogue concerning the work and message of John the Baptist.

 

Dialegomai puts the emphasis on reasoning, shaping an argument, and even disputation. It was evidently Paul’s usual mode of preaching the gospel to the Jews, for time and again he is described as “reasoning out of the Scriptures”, “reasoning in their synagogues”, etc. (Acts 17:2,17; 18:4,19; 19:8,9; 24:25). And in his discourses to the brethren also — his “long preaching” at Troas, with its calamitous result for Eutychus, was on these lines (20:7,9). The Pauline model seems to have been much left behind in modern ecclesias, both as to duration and method; Hebrews 12:5 (“speaketh”) describes tribulation and chastisement as God’s patient reasoning with His children.

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Present

 

Parakeimai means, quite literally, “to be beside”, as when a man and a woman lie together. And evidently this was the forceful figure in Paul’s mind when he wrote: “I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me” (Romans 7:21 and also v 18). This follows on remarkably well from the figure the apostle has used in vv 1-4.

Progress

 

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52). The word here translated “increased” — prokopto — is of special interest to those who find profit and pleasure in the use of lexicons and concordances. Literally it means “to cut forward”. A primary application was to the pioneer driving a track or trail through dense undergrowth. Hence it came to mean “press on, surge forward, forge ahead”. The picture is thus presented to the mind of an eager alert teen-age Jesus improving rapidly, both in physical and spiritual powers, well ahead of those his own age. A proper understanding of the verb settles here any doubt about the ambiguous word translated “stature”. The word can, of course, mean “age” also (see RV mg. and John 9:21; Hebrews 11:11), but here that meaning is impossible, for how could Jesus press on or forge ahead of others in age? There is here, therefore, probably the only indication Scripture contains about the  physique of Jesus — he was tall well above average.

 

More than this, Jesus advanced beyond measure in wisdom. The reader is bidden think of him as wonderfully precocious whilst still at school, showing such a detailed knowledge of and insight into the wisdom of the Scriptures studied there, as to make all others appear pedestrian. And with increasing maturity there would come special stature at Nazareth as one who could advise and direct with a quiet sureness of judgement altogether abnormal in one of his years.

 

There is here yet another item of information about “the hidden years”. Not only did Jesus grow in favour with God far beyond others who cultivated godliness (that was only to be expected!);  he also forged ahead of others in the good opinion of men. Thus up to the time when he left his carpenter’s shop to become a prophet and a witness to his own Messiahship, Jesus is to be thought of as the most esteemed and admired of all the rising generation in Nazareth. What a contrast with the reception his own city gave him not long afterwards (Luke 4:16-30)! So it must have been his claim rather than himself which set them against him.

 

It is instructive now to find the apostle Paul using the same word to describe his own early years: “And I was forging ahead in Judaism beyond many of my own age in my generation (or ‘in my own race’ — either way, the phrase appears to be redundant! Is it?).” Here is a picture of an eager precocious youth eclipsing by his brilliance all his fellow-students at the feet of Gamaliel.

 

And the thrill of excelling in Bible scholarship, which Saul the young rabbinist had known in his early years, he later wished for his “son" Timothy: “Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee...Be diligent in these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may be manifest to all” (1 Timothy 4:13-15). By such dutiful application to all aspects of godly service, Paul would fain have his young protégé press forward in spiritual development so that “no man despise his youth” but rather that he become a pattern to others — “an example (type) of the believers”.

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With a somewhat different emphasis Paul wished the same noteworthy progress for the church at Philippi which he loved so dearly: “And having this confidence (of acquittal when the appeal to Caesar was heard), I know that I shall abide (in the flesh) and be able to dwell with you all so that you press on ahead (of others) in your joy of faith.”

 

Yet even as he wrote, Paul experienced the deep satisfaction of seeing the Lord’s work make progress where he was: “My affairs have worked out rather unto the surging forward of the gospel; with the result that not only are my bonds in Christ manifest in all the Praetorium (i.e. the royal court) and among all the rest, but also most of the brethren who believed in the Lord through my bonds are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear” (Philippians 1:12-14).

 

Thus in his personal friends, in some ecclesias he had founded, and in the work of preaching Paul was able to contemplate a great pressing forward.

 

Yet even as he wrote, the seeds of decay were beginning to germinate in the church. Shortly before he died, it became needful for Paul to issue warning against the surging advance of false ideas: “Shun profane and vain babblings, for they will make inroads and result in more ungodliness.” This irresistible progress of apostasy he likened to a cancer feeding on the wholesome tissue round about it: “Their word will eat as doth a canker.” Also, “evil men and imposters shall make inroads even worse (than the persecutors), both leading astray and being themselves misled.” All this must have been a sickening discouragement to the great apostle who now had only a few weeks to live.

 

As a kind of postscript, it may not be amiss to draw attention to the problem provoked by another of the varied uses of this interesting word: “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Romans 13:11,12). Yet two thousand years later the dawn has not come! Useless to look for error in the translation; it could hardly be faulted. The solution must surely be in some other direction.

Protest

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:31 only: “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus”. Ne is a particle indicating an oath. The only other occurrence (?) is Genesis 42:15,16: “By the life of Pharaoh”. Paul will not swear an oath: ‘by the life of Jesus’, so he dilutes it into: ‘by the rejoicing (which I have concerning you) in Christ Jesus...’

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R

 

Receive

 

The NT has approximately two dozen different words all translated “receive”. The one to be given particular attention here is not dechomai, the most common of them all, but a close relative of it: para-dechomai. This also is translated “receive”, simply because the translators could not find another equivalent without expanding it into a phrase in what might have proved more misleading.

 

The essential idea is that of accepting formally, as a tenet of some importance; as when a man says: “I know the claims of the church of Rome, but I do not accept, or receive, them.”

 

Hence in the interpretation of the parable of the sower, “these are they...which hear the word, and receive it” (Mark 4:20). The message is not only listened to and understood but is accepted as vital teaching to be held on to.

 

There is a touch of formality about Paul’s instruction: “Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19).

 

In Hebrews 12:6, a good father “scourgeth (chastises) every son whom he receiveth.” The discipline proclaims a parenthood not to be disowned.

 

The great complaint made against Paul and his friends by citizens of Philippi eager to stress their own staunch loyalty to Rome was that these men “teach customs, which it is not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans” (Acts 16:21). It was not unlawful to hear the teaching, but they deemed it unlawful to accept it as religious authority.

 

Most eloquent of all is the instruction of the Lord Jesus to Paul not to stay in Jerusalem, “for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me” (Acts 22:18). There is here the implication that Paul quite expected that the story of his marvellous conversion on the road to Damascus would immediately have its effect on his old friends and colleagues in Jerusalem. Not they! Paul’s optimism in those early days in the Faith was to meet with rude rebuff. “They will not receive thy testimony.” What an understatement!

 

Reins

 

“I (Christ, the Judge) am he that searcheth the reins (nephros) and the hearts” (Revelation 2:23). But Psalm 7:9 asserts that “God trieth the hearts and the reins.” Here then is another example of the familiar NT usage whereby the name and character of the Father are, readily and without explanation, used also of the Son. They are part of his natural inheritance.

 

Here, as nearly always, “heart” stands for the mind, a man’s thinking powers. Then what is the meaning (in metonymy) of the reins, the kidneys? Suggestion: the natural emotions, in contrast to a man’s thinking powers.

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Reprove, Convince, Convict

 

The Greeks had a word for legal disproof or refutation, or for the cross-examination which exposes the weakness of a case.

 

The same word, and more especially the corresponding verb, elencho, is something of a favourite in the NT, to describe thorough proof, not disproof, of error. Herod reproved by John the Baptist (Luke 3:19); the accusers of the adulterous woman being convicted by their own consciences (John 8:9); Balaam rebuked for his iniquity (2 Peter 2:16); the public witness of the Holy Spirit: “he will reprove the (Jewish) world of sin” (John 16:8).

 

But whereas cross-examination or argument is intended to convince an independent judge or jury, in the NT bringing conviction to the person directly involved is the main idea.

• ­“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:20).
• “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).
• “Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13).

his strong personal impact is a thing to look out for in all occurrences of this word. This is true even in Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is...the evidence of things not seen”, where the idea of convincing argument and personal reaction to it are both involved.

 

The same word, made doubly intensive by two prefixes — diakatelencho — means to defeat and put to shame in argument. The AV of Acts 18:28: “(Apollos) mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ” is an over-optimistic translation. RV: “powerfully confuted” is much better.

Right, Straight

 

Orthos means “straight, correct, right, upright”. An orthopaedic hospital sets children right. The adverb means “correctly”, and the verb, anorthoo, describes the act of setting up or setting right.

 

Bible examples are mostly straightforward (orthos!). The poor woman, eighteen years bowed down, was “made straight” (Luke 13:13). Paul bade the lame man at Lystra “stand up straight”. The stammerer, healed by Jesus, “spoke properly”. “Thou hast answered right” expressed the Lord’s approval of good understanding.

 

At Antioch Paul rebuked Peter because “they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14). And years later, when Judaism was again making its impact, the exhortation was: “Make straight paths for your feet” (Hebrews 12:13). The context there also bids the waverers “lift up the hands which hang down” (12:12), that is, lift up your hands straight towards heaven in prayer for guidance.

 

The LXX uses this word for the “setting up” of David’s throne when Messiah inherits the kingdom (2 Samuel 7:13,16). When the complete failure of Solomon is considered, it is evident that he did not “set up straight” the throne of David. Jesus is the man to do this, for “thy discipline hath set me straight,” says one of the psalms of Messiah (18:35, LXX). “I have kept on straight (katorthoo) towards thy commandments: I hated every unrighteous way” (Psalm 119:128).

 

Lastly, the workman in Christ who does not need to be ashamed “straight-cuts” the word of truth. It is a picture of a skilled ploughman driving a perfectly straight furrow, keeping his eye steadily on the Mark ahead.

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S

 

Seem

 

It seems that it means: “it seems”. In fact, there is a general opinion that it signifies “a man’s opinion, what he supposes to be true” about this or that.

 

Thus, according to the worthy Robert Young and his worthy concordance, dokeo is translated:

 

think	33 times
suppose	7 times
seem	13 times,

 

plus a handful of less important variations on the same “seem” theme.

 

About all this there is a certain air of tolerant indifference — you can take it or leave it, there’s apparently nothing desperately important about dokeo one way or t’other; as when Jesus said: “What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children (subjects), or of strangers (foreigners)?”

 

So dokeo relates to a not over-dogmatic expression of opinion.

 

This is the normal meaning, to be found simply set down in every lexicon.

 

But for the careful student of NT words, this is hardly good enough. It needs only an attentive poring over those 63 passages to bring to light the fact that in a fair proportion of these 63, dokeo is much more emphatic. Full often it means not “I think” or “I suppose”, or “it seems to me”, but “I’m confident” or even “I’m sure” or “it’s definite”. Examples:

 

a.  Four times in Galatians 2:2,6,9 Paul refers to Peter and James as “those who seemed to be pillars (in the ecclesia)”. But there was no doubt about it in anybody’s mind — they were pillars! Yet (incredibly!) not a few commentators, wedded to their lexicon more than to their NT, dare to accuse Paul of being sarcastic at the expense of two fine men. How likely is that?

b.  “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...”, said James to the council at Jerusalem, as he summed up the best possible decision about a tricky problem. Is it conceivable that the Holy Spirit in the apostles was not too sure what guidance should be imparted? Or was James saying: ‘Without doubt this is the best solution’?

c.  “In them (the scriptures) ye think ye have eternal life,” said Jesus to his learned adversaries on the Sanhedrin (John 5:39). But there was no doubt about it. These men were confident that lots of learned attention to Holy Scripture would assuredly guarantee their everlasting life.

d.  At the trial of Jesus, Caiaphas came to the point of saying: “Ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye?” (Matthew 26:66). He was not asking for a tentative opinion. He knew he was getting a cast-iron decision.

 

These illustrations will suffice, but there is no lack of others: e.g., Luke 17:9; John 16:2; Acts 26:9; 1 Corinthians 10:12.

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Once this slant on dokeo is grasped, it provides helpful illumination on quite a few other passages.

 

When the angel of the Lord appeared to set Peter free from Herod’s prison, the apostle “thought he saw a vision”, that is, he was quite sure he was dreaming (Acts 12:9).

 

Judas went out from the Last Supper, and “some of them (the twelve) thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or...” (John 13:29). This is not so much a speculation as a confident assumption. Evidently they were very used to the undertaking of such errands by Judas.

 

“What think ye?” said some of the crowd at the last Passover, “that he will not come to the feast?” (John 11:56). They were confident that Jesus would not appear in Jerusalem this time, for, at the Feast of Chanukah and again before that at Tabernacles, had not the rulers tried to get him (10:39; 8:59)?

 

On the other hand, when the Lord was going up to Jerusalem for the last time, the disciples “thought (they were pretty sure) that the kingdom of God would immediately appear” (Luke 19:11). But Jesus was to warn them that “in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). Did he mean an hour when disciples are bewildered and far from sure whether the time is ripe? Or, more strongly, did he mean the Second Coming will happen at a time when you are confident that it won’t?

 

 

When, in the introduction to his gospel, Luke wrote: “It seemed good to me also...to write unto thee, most excellent Theophilus...” (Luke 1:3), he was not suggesting that the compilation of a gospel was a good idea that had occurred to him, but that he was confident that this was a task he should undertake. Whence this confidence, if it did not come from a divine directive via some Spirit-guided member of the church? Another phrase in the same verse might imply the same idea; and there is evidence that this is how John’s gospel also came to be written.

 

It is even possible that, in 1:3, Luke deliberately chose a form of the word dokeo to suggest also the word for “glory” (doxa) — as who should say: ‘And I count it my chiefest glory that I have been deemed worthy to write thus about Christ my Lord.’

 

John the Baptist challenged what was a settled conviction in the minds of his rabbinic contemporaries when he curtly bade them: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father” (Matthew 3:9). And similarly Jesus when he said concerning them: “They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (6:7).

 

Are finer definitions of meaning such as these worth noting, or not?

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Show

 

The ordinary Greek word for “show” is deignumi. Its co-relative deignatizo means “to show up”. Stranger still, para-deignatizo means to make a public shameful exhibition. The two occurrences of this word are both quite lurid.

 

Joseph, fearing the worst about the condition of his betrothed, was “minded to put her away privily, not wishing to make her a public example” (Matthew 1:19) in a way that formal divorce proceedings would necessarily invite publicity.

 

And in Hebrews 6:6, those who fall away from the Faith “crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” The second phrase strongly underlines not so much the pain and wretchedness of crucifixion as its incomparable shame. The idea is there also in the drastic action taken against the Baal-peor apostates in Israel: “Take those men and hang them up (s.w. LXX) before the Lord” (Numbers 25:4).

Sin, Transgress

 

Trench, in “New Testament Synonyms”, comments on the NT words for “sin” forming “a mournfully numerous group”. Here, as with the words for “fool”, the problem is nearly the same: Derivations are somewhat easier to pick out, but whether NT usage really insists on these distinctions is another matter. There are probably few places where the root meaning of    any of these synonyms is to be pressed.

 

For instance, hamartia, the most common of them all, originally meant “missing the Mark” with arrow or spear. Classically such usage was common. But there is hardly a passage in the NT where this is obviously the meaning.

 

Hamartema seems to describe the whole catalogue of sins. The sacrifice of Christ is “for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:25), the great agglomeration of them committed before the Lamb of God was born. Here 1 Corinthians 6:18 is something of a puzzle: “Every sin (or, all the sin) that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” Other sins do not transfer the body from Christ to another; but fornication does (as vv 15-17 argue).

 

Parakoe means “disobedience of a voice or commandment” (akouo — hear). This seems to be the point of Romans 5:19: “By one man’s disobedience (against the word spoken by angels in Eden) many were made sinners.”

 

Anomia is lawlessness, the wickedness which flouts God’s law (as in 1 John 3:4), and anomos is the man who so transgresses. Since nomos (law) stood also specially for the Law of Moses, there is a special barb in the Lord’s description of the Pharisees as “full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Law-lessness)” (Matthew 23:28). So also Peter’s denunciation: “By wicked (Law-less) hands ye have crucified and slain” the Son of God (Acts 2:23). The unusual word paranomia is used in 2 Peter 2:16 with reference to Balaam because he was outside the Law.

 

Parabaino means “to go across” a clearly marked-out moral boundary. “Transgress” is good Latin for exactly the same idea. There seems to be a suggestion of deliberate wilful sin about some of the NT examples. Judas’ betrayal of Christ (Acts 1:25), Adam’s calculated choice in Eden (1 Timothy 2:14; Romans 5:14), and the cool effrontery of the disciples (as the Pharisees chose to interpret it) in flouting rabbinic tradition with their unwashed hands. Thus 2 John 1: 9 suggests a deliberate element of perversity in the false teacher, going from ecclesia to ecclesia, who caused such apostolic headaches in the first century.

 

Paraptoma has the idea of “falling aside” or “falling instead of standing” (pipto — fall). This word also is used repeatedly of the Fall in Eden (Romans 5:15-20, six times). And the verb parapipto is used of apostasy from the Faith (Hebrews 6:6). But this idea of “falling away” is not always present, at least not very obviously.

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Slumber

 

The Greek nustazo is used in only a few places to emphasize an overpowering disposition to sleep, as in the case of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:5); and with a pointed negative: “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4). 2 Peter 2:3: “their damnation slumbereth not” may be intended to imply: These false teachers fall into the category of foolish virgins; they are spiritually asleep to what the coming of the Bridegroom will mean to them, but the judgment he brings does not slumber!

Snare

 

Pagis (from Hebrew pach) is the ordinary word for the usual means of catching birds or animals. Paul warns that they who want to be rich “fall into temptation and a snare” (1 Timothy 6:9) — a snare especially because money is never seen in this sinister light. No man who gains wealth considers himself to be wealthy — “not until I have twice as much as this”.

 

What is “the snare of the devil” which Paul writes about? In 1 Timothy 3:7 the context is fairly clear: a bishop “must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach (from such) and the snare of the devil (them which are without).” The warning is two-pronged. It is important that the leader of a Christian community be not only a Christian but be seen to be a Christian truly. On the other hand, he must avoid the trap which socializing with worldly people may imperceptibly become in his life.

 

2 Timothy 2:26 speaks of certain who need to “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil”. This suggests a similar context to the preceding — men who have allowed themselves to be entrapped by the allurements of worldly associations and have thus been “taken captive by him (the world and the flesh, which is the devil)” unto his will instead of to the will of Christ. There is some ambiguity about the phrasing here, so one can hardly be dogmatic about this understanding of it.

 

The context of Luke 21:35 suggests a similar idea: “For as a snare shall it (the Second Coming) come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” The previous verse is a solemn warning against “hearts overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life”, just as it was in the days of Noah.

 

In Romans 11:9 Paul quotes (from Psalm 69:22) some of the most imprecatory language of the OT: “For David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap...” In the Psalm the context — the destruction of Jesus at Passover — suggests that the “table” referred to may be the Passover meal which the Lord’s enemies ate to their own condemnation and not at all for their redemption. Everything at that Passover added to their guilt with its rebuke, by every detail, of their wilful blindness (On this passage, see George Booker’s “Psalms Studies”). It was a suitable quid pro quo for their earlier efforts to “entangle (s.w. entrap) him in his talk” (Matthew 22:15).

 

The LXX poses a problem with what appears to be a drastically mixed metaphor: “Upon the wicked he (Jehovah) will rain snares” (Psalm 11:6). But here the NIV boldly substitutes “fiery coals”. This makes more sense and fits the context. But the only justification for it is the assumption of a confusion between two very similar Hebrew words.

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Sober

 

The simple meaning of nepho and nephalleos is to be sober in respect of drinking, or sober in one’s thinking. 1 Thessalonians. 5:6,8 has the former idea (yet using it in a figure, warning against spiritual torpor or self-indulgence). But Peter’s usage in his first epistle (1:13; 4:7; 5:8) has the other meaning of thoughtful level-headed behaviour. And so also Paul (1 Timothy 3:2,11; Titus 2:2).

 

The more emphatic ananepho comes only in 2 Timothy 2:26: “that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil” — a very effective figure of a drunken man coming round again to sobriety.

 

The other compound eknepho has this notion yet more explicitly. It is used in a very literal sense of both Noah and Nabal waking up sober after drunkenness (Genesis 9:24; 1 Samuel 25:37). Then what did Paul mean when he wrote: “Awake (eknepho) to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Corinthians 15:34)? He seems to imply that the old worldly life is as despicable as a drunken stupor.

Speak

 

Something like 250 times the word laleo crops up in the NT, nearly always translated “speak”.

 

The interesting and rather strange thing is that in classical Greek laleo means “chatter, babble”. But hardly ever, if at all, is this the usage in the NT At its lowest, the cognate word lalia is used for “dialect”: “Thy speech betrayeth thee” (Matthew 26:73). But nearly always, laleo is upgraded to the level of preaching or some dignified pronouncement. Indeed, students should consider whether or not it has been appropriated specially for inspired utterance. At least 90% of the NT examples are in this category. But there are a few palpable exceptions (Matthew 12:46,47; John 9:21; 7:13; 2 John 1: 12; etc.).

 

One passage is of very special interest. 1 Corinthians 14,34,35 carries nearly all the weight for the dogma that the voice of a woman shall not be heard in any assembly of believers: “It is not permitted unto them to speak… it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”

 

Here, no less than four possible meanings of laleo need to be considered:

 

(a.) Addressing the assembly.

(b.) Private conversation, ordinary talk.

(c.) Chatter (the classical sense).

(d.) An inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

 

The meaning (a.) is invariably assumed. But is it possible one of the others was meant by Paul? So far as is known, no one has ever argued for (b.) But since Paul is pleading for seemliness in the meetings, (c.) is a distinct possibility, especially if the early church had fallen into the synagogue pattern of putting the womenfolk in a gallery upstairs by themselves. It would be understandable that, if the discourse included some point of special concern or maybe puzzlement, the women in the gallery would begin chattering amongst themselves. So Paul bluntly declared: “It is not permitted for your wives to chatter in the ecclesia...if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home...Let all things be done decently and in order.”

 

All this is beautifully consistent. The only misgiving is that this classical meaning for laleo doesn’t appear to have NT support elsewhere. Now consider (d). It is an impressive fact that laleo comes in the same chapter another 22 times, always with reference to a gift of the Holy Spirit, and 20 of these refer to speaking with tongues.

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It is understandable, then, that women in the church, endowed with the gift of tongues and perhaps with less self-discipline than the men, could create some disturbance in the services. In that case, Paul may have been requiring that sisters do not speak with tongues during the services. If this is the right idea, what bearing does it have on the 20th-century problem? Very little, it would seem, since the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer extant.

 

Two compounds of laleo call for brief consideration.

 

The idea of dialaleo is given perfectly in Luke 1:65: “All these sayings (about Zacharias and John the Baptist) were noised abroad.” Luke 6:11 is less happy or exact: “They were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” This is too weak. Nor is the NEB — “began to discuss” — really adequate. Some phrase is needed to suggest excited indignant interchange of ideas and reactions, something equivalent to a 20th-century frantic exchange of telephone calls.

 

Katalaleo is an uninhibitedly bad word. The LXX uses it of Miriam’s and Aaron’s envious talk about Moses (Numbers 12:8), and of the mutiny of the people when desperate for water (21:5,7). In the NT, “backbiting” is a good Anglo-Saxon equivalent (Romans 1:30; 2 Corinthians 12:20). So, “speaking evil of you” or “of one another” (1 Peter 2:12; 3:16; James 4:11) is really rather mild. This word deserves to be more evil spoken of than that.

 

Spikenard

 

The Greek nardos (Mark 14:3; John 12:3) occurs only in Song of Solomon  4:13,14 (twice to match two gospel incidents? Luke 7 and John 12?), and 1:12: “when the king sitteth at his table”. “Sendeth forth the smell thereof” has its counterpart in John 12: “the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”

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Spue, Vomit

 

The Greek word emeo has a more respectable child: “emetic”. But there is nothing respectable about this word in the Bible: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). The allusion appears to be to a denunciation in Leviticus of the foul sexual perversions of the heathen. Refrain from these evils, is the exhortation, “that the Land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you” (18:22-28). If this is the reference, then it would seem that the church at Laodicea was in danger of relapsing into the Gentile vices from which it had been converted (as also Thyatira). The added warning: “that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear”, chimes in with this.

 

Did Laodicea give heed to the exhortation? It is difficult to tell. Certainly, by the standards of orthodoxy, in the fourth century Laodicea was the most notable church in that area. But Truth had already been greatly corrupted, so perhaps already Laodicea was reprobated. But in that case, what outward sign was there that the Lord had vomited out this renegade community? The reference to the Second Coming in v 20 (cp. Luke 12:37) suggests an act of open condemnation.

 

In the OT spewing is several times associated with the foul effects of drunkenness (e.g. Isaiah 28:7,8; Jeremiah 25:27). But the only other NT reference is Peter’s almost over-vigorous figures of speech: “It is happened to them (the renegades from the faith, going back to the old evil life) according to the true proverb: The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22). The original of Peter’s “true parable” is this: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so is a fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11, RV). But the other saying about the sow is not in Proverbs. The guess has been made that this is a quote from an uncanonical collection of proverbs, and therefore not a “true proverb” like the other.

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Stink

 

Oddly enough, the Greek word has originated the English “ozone”.

 

It occasions a certain mild surprise that Martha should use so forceful a word about the condition of the corpse of Lazarus four days after death ensued (John 11:39). But the AV is correct here, as Exodus 8:14 shows: “And the land (of Egypt) stank”, because of the accumulation of dead frogs.

Stranger

 

Xenos normally means ‘one from another country, a foreigner’. This is the obvious meaning in most places. But the usage is extended to cover anything strange, out of the ordinary, as in “divers and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:9); Paul was regarded at Athens as “a setter forth of strange gods” (Acts 17:18), a very odd remark for Athenians to make, for the city had imported deities from all the known world (vv 22,23).

 

Judas’ thirty pieces of silver were used to purchase “the potter’s field, to bury strangers in” (Matthew 27:7). Thus the price of the death of Christ provided a resting place in the Holy City for Gentiles.

 

But why should the savagery of the Nero persecution be regarded (by some of the brethren) as “some strange thing” happening unto the brethren (1 Peter 4:12)? But it was natural enough that old pagan associates should “think it strange that ye (no longer) run with them to the same excess of riot” (4:4).

 

Two occurrences of this word are somewhat puzzling. Paul speaks of Gaius as “mine host and of the whole church” (Romans 16:23). Also, “some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2). Why should the word for “stranger” suddenly mean “host to strangers”? It needs explaining.

Strongholds

 

“The weapons of our warfare are...mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). The suspicion that vv 1-6 here have a sustained allusion to Israel’s conquest of Canaan finds some support in the fact that this Greek word for “strongholds” is virtually the same as in Numbers 13:19, LXX. The same word is also to be found in Joshua 19:29 (Tyre), Isaiah 34:13 (Edom), and Proverbs 21:22.

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Suffice, Sufficient

 

Arketos is an unusual word occurring only three times in Holy Scripture. But when those three passages are put together, the word is seen to carry a distinctly sardonic flavour:

 

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34). ‘Indeed, yes!’ is the only comment that the disciple, completely disillusioned about human nature, can make.

 

“It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Lord” (Matthew 10:25). Indeed, yes — if only he could achieve that standard or that experience!

 

“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness...etc., etc.” (1 Peter 4:3). Yes, indeed! more than sufficient time spent on that!

 

Supply

 

There is special interest attaching to this Greek word choregeo. Originally it described the assembly of players or dancers on a stage (cp. English chorus), but from this it graduated to a different meaning, now describing the wealthy patron who at his own expense undertook to supply the special robes and equipment needed by the “chorus”. It is only in this sense (again somewhat modified) that choregeo appears in the Bible.

 

“If any man minister (in the ecclesial service), receive it as out of the strength which God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11). The same verse carries an allusion to “the manifold grace of God”, i.e. the diversified gifts of the Spirit extant in the early church.

 

2 Corinthians 9:10 has a similar idea: “God will minister (supply) bread for your food.” This follows immediately on an allusion to the way in which Israel were fed in the wilderness by “angel’s food”.

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T

 

Take, Receive

 

The normal Greek word for “take” (lambano) is strengthened by a prefix — paralambano — to convey the idea of one person taking another along with him. This is the meaning in lots of passages, as when Jesus took three apostles into the mount with him.

 

In describing the call of the saints, “one taken and the other left” (Luke 17:34), there is plain implication of being taken by someone (an angel: Matthew 24:31). Examples like these are so common as to create the problem: Why isn’t the word always translated that way? The exceptions seem to have to do with instances where persons are not involved; e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:1,3: “The gospel which I also received (I took it to myself when given it by Christ)...The gospel which also ye received (they took it to themselves from Paul)”.

 

The meaning is intensified yet further by the acquisition of another prefix, making sumparalambano. This imparts the yet warmer idea of close fellowship, as when Paul and Barnabas “took with them John Mark”. This becomes all the more poignant when a bitter quarrel broke out over John Mark’s later defection, so that Paul “thought it not good to take him with them, who went not with them to the work” — sumparalambano again; fellowship marred (but not broken) by differing principles about  the preaching to Gentiles.

Temple

 

Naos means the inner sanctuary of a temple. It was there where Judas threw down the thirty pieces of silver.

 

“Ye are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16) makes a distinction from the outer court, which is Jewry (Revelation 11:2).

 

What is “the temple of the tabernacle of God”? The inner shrine of the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies.

 

In the age to come, there is no such Holy of Holies. Instead, the Lamb (Revelation 21:22).

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Think, Suppose, Reckon

 

Nomizo is only one of many words in the think-tank. A complete study of them all would fill a book. With this particular word, the essential idea is that equivalent to the American use of “I figure that it would be best to...” — as when Paul was stoned at Iconium, the disciples came round him, “supposing that he had been dead” (Acts 14:19).

 

But because of the close relationship to nomos, the Law, in several passages there are overtones. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets” (Matthew 5:17).

 

Jesus “being as was supposed (i.e. legally reckoned) the son of Joseph...” (Luke 3:23).

Torment, Sorrow

 

The first of these is the more accurate meaning, as in: “I am tormented in this flame” (the rich man in “hell”: Luke 16:24,25).

 

The word describes the affliction of Israel under Egyptian bondage (Exodus 3:7, LXX), the nights of misery suffered by Job (7:3), and the birth-pangs of Rachel giving birth to “the son of my anguish” (Genesis 35:18), pains curable only by the blessed unconsciousness of death.

 

And this was the only word to describe the wretchedness of saying a final farewell to the apostle Paul (Acts 20:38), and of Mary and Joseph as they “sought their boy sorrowing”  (Luke 2:48). It describes the aching misery of Paul grieving over the stony-hearted unbelief of his people (Romans 9:2), an unbudgeable prejudice against Jesus which torments the New Israel not at all. Instead, they are too busy “piercing themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10) that are of no profit at all.

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U

 

Understanding, Mind

 

Nous, although mostly translated mind, is, more precisely, understanding. The passages, twenty-four of them, are worth individual consideration.

 

There is also, once, nounechos (literally: having nous), which is used very effectively of the lawyer who “answered discreetly” (Mark 12:34) concerning the Great Commandment.

 

The verb noeo is straightforward enough: to understand. In Mark 8:17 it is reinforced: “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand?” (The last word there is suniemi — see below.)

 

The more emphatic dianoia usually gets the same translation “mind”. But there is one noteworthy phrase in Mary’s hymn of praise: “He (the Lord) hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts” (Luke 1:51). This is the more impressive when the allusion to Genesis 6:5 is recognized: “And God saw...that the imagination (LXX: dianoia) of man’s heart was only evil continually.”

 

The associated noun noema seems to be used of human thoughts and designs only in a derogatory sense: “We are not ignorant of his (the Satan’s) devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11). “Their minds were blinded” (3:14). “So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (11:3). So also 4:4; 10:5; Philippians 4:7.

 

Another verb of even greater force is suniemi, with its emphasis on mental grasp of ideas and principles; as in “understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17); “then opened he their understanding (nous) that they might understand (suniemi) the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

 

The number of times that this verb is used in the NT (twenty-six, along with the noun sunesis, seven, and its adjective sunetos, four) is a standing rebuke of the sloppiness of much modern religion, and is a firm justification of the Christadelphian tradition that, to the best of his ability, a man should bring his mind into constant activity in his religion.

 

Yet at the same time there is implicit warning against a mere academic attitude: “I (the Lord) will bring to nought the understanding (sunesis) of the prudent (sunetos)” (1 Corinthians 1:19). “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent (sunetos)” (Luke 10:21).

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Untimely

 

“As a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind” (Revelation 6:13).

 

Olunthos occurs here and in Song of Sol. 2:13 only. That excellent lexicographer Edward Robinson says these figs “are such as grow under the leaves, and do not ripen at the proper season, but hang on the trees during the winter”. But this can hardly be the meaning in these verses, for “the fig tree putteth forth her green (olunthos) figs” comes in a description of springtime. And it was at Passover when Jesus cursed the fruitless fig  tree because it had not even those green figs, and therefore no promise at all of fruit later in the season (Matthew 21:19).

 

So Revelation 6:13 ought to be read with regard to green figs in the spring. It is noteworthy that in AD 70 the siege of Jerusalem began at Passover, and also that the Second Coming of the Lord will probably be at Passover (see “Passover”, HAW, ch. 14). Both interpretations of the Sixth Seal are possible, but reference to the time of Constantine is a nonsense.

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V

 

Variableness

 

Allos is a simple word for “other”. Allosso is a verb derived from it, meaning “change”. Going a step further, parallage describes a shift from one position to another. As you move your head from one side to the other, two objects in line at different distances appear to change position in opposite directions — parallage describes this effect. A similar phenomenon is noticeable with reference to the heavenly bodies: the constellations all appear to have fixed positions relative to each other. But not so the moon which appears against a different background of stars every night. This is the moon’s parallage. In James 1:17 God the Creator is called “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness (parallage), neither shadow cast by turning” (RV). Here the great glory of the character of God is cpd to      the sun — He is unchangeable, in contrast with the moon which, as it turns in its orbit, changes in appearance because of the casting of a shadow across its face.

Vex

 

The NT has an interesting variety of words for this idea. Those “vexed with unclean spirits” (Luke 6:18; Acts 5:16) were “crowded” with them (ochleo). Matthew 17:15, describing the epileptic boy healed by Jesus, says he was “sore vexed”, using the very word for the sufferings of Christ (pascho). Another word (kakoo) means ‘to work harm, to do evil’; “Herod stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church” (Acts 12:1).

 

Two more highly expressive words describe Lot’s distress amidst the sodomy of Sodom: “He was vexed (kataponeo, worn down as with hard labour: s.w. Acts 7:24) at the filthy way of life of the wicked...he vexed (basanizo: tormented, tortured) his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds” (2 Peter 2:7,8).