Biblical Hermeneutics Theoretical Issues About Word Meanings I.

The importance of accurately understanding the meaning of words A. Words are the building block of language. 1. The meaning of a sentence consists of the meaning of words and the arrangement of those words in the sentence (syntax). 2. A word can have several possible meanings. 3. The meaning of a word is always determined by the context and the syntax of the sentence. B. If we are hazy or wrong in our understanding of word meanings we will misunderstand the meaning of a biblical passage. C. The goal of a Bible interpreter is to understand the meaning of the words as used in the original languages of the Bible: Greek (New Testament, Hebrew (Old Testament), a little Aramaic (portions of some later Old Testament books)

II.

Basic issues about the meanings of words A. Semantics is the study of the meaning of words. It is part of the field of linguistics, the study of languages. B. There often is not an exact equivalent in English for the original Greek or Hebrew word used. The goal is to understand the shades of meaning and implications of the words in the original language. C. Every word has a range of possible meanings, called its semantic range. 1.

E.g. “hand”: a part of the body used for grasping, a set of playing cards held by a card player, the indicator of hours or minutes on a clock, etc. “Give them a hand” means either a command to an audience to applaud a performance or a command to help some people with a task.

2.

The exact meaning in a particular sentence is determined by the sentence and the context.

3.

A particular meaning is called a semantic domain. a. Meaning can be divided into subdomains: (1) major semantic domain: animal (2) subdomain: sheep b. Several words may have this same basic meaning and thus are part of a semantic domain. (1) Words with the same or similar meaning are called synonyms. (2) Words may be a synonym in one domain but not another. (a “child” is not necessarily a “baby”)

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Harry A. Hahne

Theoretical Issues About Word Meanings

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D. Several different words might be required to translate the range of meanings of a Greek or Hebrew word, depending on the context of a passage. Greek word ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------English word 1 English word 2 English word 3 1.

πληρόω (pleroo): “fill” (a cup), “fulfill” (prophecy), “complete” or “finish” *Bible Word Study of πληρόω (pleroo) in Logos Bible Software showing the NASB translations:

2.

πίστις (pistis): a. “faith” in several senses: (1) belief in Jesus leading to salvation (Gal 2:16) (2) confident assurance of what God can do (Mt 1:22-23) (3) the doctrine of the gospel (Gal 1:23) (4) etc. b. “faithfulness”

3.

σάρξ (sarx): a complex, multi-dimensional word: a. basic meaning is “flesh” (that which covers the bones) b. physical body c. a person of flesh and blood (Jn 1:14) d. humankind collectively (Lk 3:6--“all flesh will see God's salvation”) e. the mortal human nature f. the outward side of life visible to others g. the sinful nature; inner part of a human being that urges us to sin

E. A Greek or Hebrew word may have different nuances or associations than the best equivalent English word. These are called the connotations of a word.

Theoretical Issues About Word Meanings

1.

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The basic sense of κόσμος (kosmos) is “world”, but not exactly like the English word “world” a. The English word “world” overlaps only part of the meaning of the Greek word κόσμος. Greek: κόσμος ---------------------------------English: “world” b. κόσμος can mean the physical world, the universe, all the people in the world, all non-animal creatures (men and angels), a woman's external adornment, the system of thought and values which are hostile to God, etc. c. Unlike the English word “world”, some of these usages are negative, particularly in John (system of thought hostile to God) d. An English speaker does not think of anything negative in the word “world”. But the biblical term often has negative connotations, particularly in John’s writings.

F.

2.

The “first born” (πρωτότοκος prototokos; ‫ בְּכ ֹר‬bekōr) was more than merely the first child born. a. In ancient Jewish culture the first son received the largest portion of the inheritance and had other special privileges, honors and responsibilities. b. Thus the term “first born” could be used metaphorically to refer to someone who was more honored and considered more excellent, even when birth order is not in view. (1) Exod. 4:22: God called Israel his“firstborn” because of the special privileges God gave them (2) Ps. 89:27: God appointed the Davidic king of Israel as his “firstborn”, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. (3) Col. 1:15: Christ is called the firstborn of all creation. This does not mean that He was created first, but that he is supreme above all created things.

3.

If we assume North American English associations for words, it can lead to serious errors. a. Jews of Jesus day thought of the Pharisees as the greatest religious people of the time, not hypocrites. b. “Samaritans” were half Jew, half Gentile, whose Jewish ancestors had compromised and married forbidden Gentiles. To a Jew of this era, there was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan. In the story of the good Samaritan it is shocking that the hero is not the Jewish priest (the good guy), but the despised Samaritan (the bad guy). By contrast, in Western culture, the word Samaritan now has overtones of a helpful person who cares for strangers.

The meaning of a word is always determined by its interaction with other words in the context. 1.

Only one meaning is used in a context. Context determines which of the possible meanings of a word is intended.

2.

The context includes both the syntax (arrangement of words in a sentence) and the larger context of several sentences and the purpose of the overall discourse.

3.

When John 3:16 says “God so loved the world”, the term “world” has a different meaning than in 1 John 2:15, “do not love the world nor the things of the world”. Yet both of these statements where written by the same author.

G. The goal of a word study is to determine how a word was used by the author in accordance with the normal usage of words in the author's language, time and culture. 1. The semantic range – the possible meanings of the word in the author’s language, time and culture. 2. What the word means in the context of a passage you are studying.

Theoretical Issues About Word Meanings

III.

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Common errors in determining word meanings A. Assuming that all possible word meanings apply in a given passage (“illegitimate totality transfer”) 1. A word may mean many things, but the author has only one meaning in mind in a given sentence. This is the error of the Amplified Bible. 2. A concordance or lexicon study shows you the possibilities. You must choose the appropriate usage based on the context. 3. E.g. ¦κκλησία (ekklesia) (church) may mean a local assembly or the entire collection of Christians throughout the ages, but not both at the same time. B. Assuming all occurrences of a word must have the same meaning. (“one meaning fallacy”) 1. A word may be translated different ways in different passages. (see on σάρξ (sarx) above) C. Assuming word meaning can be determined from the root of the word. (“root fallacy”) 1. The meaning of “greenhouse” could not be determined from the meaning of its parts “green” and “house”. 2. This is very common in older word study books, such a Thayer's Lexicon, Vines Word Studies and Wuest's Word Studies. 3. έκκλησία (ekklesia): It is often said to mean that believers are “called out” based on the root, but it is never used this way in Greek literature. D. Misusing the etymology of a word (“etymological fallacy”) 1. Etymology means the older word from which a word historically evolved. 2. “Hussy” is derived from the Old English word meaning “housewife” (huswyf). 3. “Nice” is derived from the Latin nescius, “ignorant” 4. βιβλος (biblos = book) in very early Greek meant the outer layer of a papyrus reed. It does not mean that in New Testament era Greek. E. Applying modern English word meaning to ancient words (see discussion above). F.

Assuming the word meaning is related to an English word derived from the word. 1. δύναμις (dunamis) = “power”, but it has nothing to do with dynamite 2. In “God loves a cheerful giver”, the Greek word Êλαρός (hilaros) has nothing to do with being “hilarious”.

G. Taking the word meaning from another time period. 1. Words change meaning significantly over time, sometimes very quickly. In 1611 when the KJV was translated, “prevent” meant the same as the modern word “precede” (1 Thess. 4:15, “those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not prevent those who have fallen asleep”) 2. Two types of word studies: a. Diachronic: traces the changes in word meanings over the centuries. b. Synchronic: looks at word meanings in other literature from the same time period. 3. Anachronism: reading a later usage of a word back. E.g. reading the 2nd century idea of “bishop” as a leader responsible for several churches back into the NT use of ¦πισκοπος (episkopos). In the NT it means an “overseer” of a church. This is roughly like a pastor, except it stresses his leadership role, whereas “pastor” stresses the spiritual nurture side of the position. 4. Obsolescence: reading an outdated meaning into a word. E.g. κεφαλή (kefale), “head”, is not used with the meaning “source” or “origin” in the NT era, so it cannot be used that way in 1 Cor 11. That was a rare classical Greek usage from the 5th century B.C., not a Hellenistic usage. (See Carson, pp. 36-37) 5. Be careful not to read NT meanings into the OT. Hebrew words have different nuances of meaning than Greek words.

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H. Assuming that synonyms alwaysexpress different concepts. 1. The 2 words for love, •γαπάω (agapao) and φιλέω (fileo), overlap in meaning more than many people realize. Even the Pharisees love with •γαπη (agape): Lk 11:43, they love the front seats in synagogue and the respectful greetings of men. Only an author's usage habits and the meaning in context can determine if the author intends any distinction in meaning. I.

IV.

Misuse of parallel passages 1. Be careful to consider all parallel passages, not just the ones that support your theory 2. Be sure the parallel passages deal with the word or subject in the same way as your passage.

Recommended reading A. Moisés Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning. An Introduction to Lexical Semantics. Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 1983. B. Donald Carson, Exegetical Fallacies. Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker, 1984.