BIBLE INTERPRETATION: WORD MEANINGS (PART 2)

I. Words Have a Range of Meanings

Our English word “spirit” conjures up ghostly images, alcoholic beverages or pep rallies. And in the case of the Bible it may mean a person's inner being or the Holy Spirit. It is sometimes hard to distinguish between the two meanings since Greek manuscripts are either written in all caps or all lower case, not a mix. Here is one example: “Are you so foolish? Having started with the spirit/Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3)

a. The original may be less precise than a comparable English word.

Here is an OT example that has bothered readers for years:

“But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and rainment.” Exodus 3:22a (KJV)

    s'l = borrow: Exodus 22:13; II Kings 4:3 and 6:5

    s'l = ask for: Judges 8:24; I Samuel 1:27-28

Context:

    “I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed.” Exodus 3:21

    “...and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:22b

Because of this context, all modern translations render it “ask for,” not “borrow.”

                                            Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward an Old Testament Ethics, pp. 265-266

Here is an example from the New Testament: peirazo = “Test/trial or tempt(ation)” (James 1:12-14)

“Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one, when tempted, should say, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one's one desires...”

The same root word in Greek is employed for these seven appearances of test/tempt. By contrast, in English we distinguish between the two meanings. So translators need to wrestle with which meaning or meanings are being referred to.

    KJV, NRSV translate the second appearance by test with tempt for others.

    RSV, NIV, Jerusalem Bible and Phillips translate the first two as test with tempt for others.

    NEB translates the first three as test with tempt for others.

    Living Bible uses tempt/temptation for all.

    TEV translates the first two as test, temptation and trial for the third, and tempt for the others.

    And then there is the NASB which avoids translating the second occurrence altogether and says “has been approved.”

b. On the other hand, the original may be more precise than the comparable English word.

The Hebrew language has nine different words for “lion,” some usually translated as young lion, old lion, bold lion, roaring lion, etc. It also has eight different words for “gold.” There may be good reasons for figuring out what each synonym means. However, “A precise definition of the various synonyms is difficult, but the evidence suggests that these terms were used for stylistic reasons and not because of technical distinctions.”      Robin Wakely, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 1, p. 1076.

In Moses' blessings of the twelve tribes he states,“Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favorite of his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil.” (Deuteronomy 33:24) Several attempts to drill in the “foot” of Asher's territory by companies such as NESS Oil and Zion Oil Co. have located some gas but not much oil. These efforts have been financed largely by church members who were convinced based on this passage. But a simple look at all occurrences of “oil” in an analytical concordance will show that the particular Hebrew word in this passage refers to edible oils from trees such as olive tree, or to edible fat from animals. There are several other Hebrew words that refer to pitch, tar or other petroleum products.

Before giving another example, this time in Greek, of a word that has a more specific meaning in the original than the comparable English, I would like to show briefly how study books can help. If you want to go all out, you can purchase a multi-volume OT word study book such The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis or its NT equivalen. Or a one-volume book like Vine's Expository Dictionary.

However, one of the most useful tools for understanding word meanings is an analytical concordance. But keep in mind that most standard analytical concordances are keyed to the King James Version. Each concordance is set up in a slightly different way, but here are several ways that you can use them.

Let's pretend that you know that somewhere in the NT, Paul talks about different kinds of tongues. To locate it, you could start by using a key word that appears in the passage, such “kind.” An analytical concordance will list all the times that particular English word appears in the OT and NT. The passage you want is I Corinthians 12:10. But notice that more than one Hebrew and Greek word is translated that way. So you might ask why the author used this particular word rather than another one.

Since you now know what the original word was for your particular verse in question (genos), you can go to another portion of the Concordance to see if that word is translated in any other way in the Bible. That search would take you to another page, where you can see that genos actually has a large range of possible meanings such as nation, kindred, offspring, etc. depending on the context. And in one type of concordance, these alternative translations will be conveniently listed along with the number of times each translation appears.

Some analytical concordances are available free of charge on the internet. Using blueletterbible.com, for example, you can call up any verse in the Bible, click on it, and there will be menus you can use to compare different English translations of this verse, and even what some commentators have said about this verse. In addition, you can click on a given word in the passage and call up Strong's Analytical Concordance. I only have a couple of reservations with using blueletterbible.com: (1) The various translations they have available are not always what I would call the best ones, (2) the commentators you can access are generally sound theologically but are from an older generation of scholars who relied on KJV exclusively, and (3) the featured articles on this site should be read with a critical eye.

Well, let's get back to the situation where an original Greek word may have a narrower meaning than its equivalent in English.  I Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.” The word picture here shows Jesus descending from heaven while believers rise to meet him. From that point on, the question is, “Where will all of us be together?” Will we escort him the rest of the way down to earth, or will He turn around and take us somewhere else? And the key word that may decide the question is “meet.”

There are three basic camps of interpretation. Two of them treat this as a description of the Second 

Coming. The historical premillennialists see Jesus coming to earth at this point to set up a thousand-

year reign while the amillennialists feel he will come to earth at this point for judgment and an eternal 

reign in a renewed earth. On the other hand, the dispensationalists treat this as what is popularly called 

the Rapture (total removal of believers from the earth in safety while everyone else is left behind to 

suffer during the tribulation). They feel that this passage in Thessalonians describes a “secret” coming

of Christ to be followed by a later open coming of Christ.

Any analytical concordance will show that there are about ten different Greek words which could have 

been used here for “meet/meeting.” It will also show that the particular word used in I Thessalonians is 

apantesis, which only appears here and in two other places in the NT: the parable of the wise and 

foolish virgins (Matthew 25) and toward the end of Acts where the Roman Christians greet Paul at the 

edge of the city and escort him back into the city.

 

“The use of apantesis in I Thess. 4:17 is noteworthy. The ancient expression for the civic welcome of 

an important visitor or the triumphal entry of a new ruler into the capital city, and thus to his reign, is 

applied to Christ. The same thoughts occur in the parable of the ten virgins. The virgins leave to meet 

the bridegroom, i.e. The Lord, to whom they wish to give a festive reception (Matt. 25:6).”

(W. Mundle, NIDNNT, vol I, p. 325.) Kistemaker (The Parables of Jesus) explains that the bridesmaids 

were waiting at the bride's house for the groom to arrive to take his bride to the ceremonies. They are 

told that he is on his way and that they should go out and meet him with torches to light his way back 

to the bride's house.

What do commentators say about Acts 28:15? “Apantesis was almost a technical term for the official 

welcome of a visiting dignitary by a deputation which went out from the city to greet him and escort 

him for the last part of his journey.” (F.F. Bruce, The Book of Acts, p. 527) So these two other uses are 

much more consistent with the understanding of the historical premillenialists and amillennialists. But 

since none of these commentators is a dispensationalist, maybe they all have an ax to grind and can't be 

trusted. So I next went to the Bible Knowledge Commentary. All of the authors there are professors at 

Dallas Theological Seminary, which is very strongly dispensationalist.

“The noun apantesin, translated as an infinitive 'to meet,' was used in Greek literature of an entourage 

coming out of a city to meet an official going to the city. It is also used in I Thessalonians 4:17, which 

speaks of believers being 'caught up...to meet the Lord in the air.'” (Stanley D. Toussaint, The Bible 

Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, “Acts,” pp. 429-430.) So how does Toussaint deal with the 

fact that the word picture contradicts the idea that the believers will escape from earth at this point?

He continues, “Like an entourage, believers will go up at the Rapture into the clouds to meet Jesus, 

their Savior and Lord, coming from heaven to take them to Himself.” He stops at the point that Jesus 

takes believers to Himself and doesn't say where they go from there. In the same commentary it states, 

“The place where the Christians will be was not so important to Paul as the Person with whom they 

will be.” (Thomas L. Constable, “I Thessalonians,” p. 705) It is a beautiful thought but again evades 

completely the question of where we are all going at that point, and the whole idea of the Rapture 

happens to depend on this one point.