WORD STUDIES IN THE BIBLE: PART 2 (EPHESIANS 1:14)

 In the first post in this series, I discussed (1) how you could find the location in the Bible of a passage which you can at least partially quote and (2) the value of comparing diverse Bible translations or paraphrases in order to get a better idea of what the words in the passage might mean. In the present posting, I would like to show other fairly easy ways to get a better handle on what the original Greek text means.

Greek-English Dictionaries

This would seem to be the most foolproof method to start with, but the situation is not that simple. For example, one standard dictionary is Liddell Scott's Greek-English Lexicon. It contains all the Greek words in alphabetical order along with their definitions. However, (1) the words are arranged according to the order of the Greek alphabet, not the English alphabet; and (2) most of the definitions explain what the word meant in classical Greek writings, not in the biblical koine Greek.

The first drawback can be overcome fairly easily by preparing a cheat sheet listing all the characters in the Greek language in proper order along with their counterparts in English. Thus, it would start with the character for alpha ,α, which is generally transliterated as the letter A. This would be followed by beta, β, standing for B, etc. Below is the whole Greek alphabet in order along with English equivalents. You may wish to simply print off a hard copy for future reference.

The second drawback with a simple dictionary is not so easily overcome since you can't rely on a classical meaning of a word to coincide exactly with what that word meant to the writers of the New Testament. Let's go to our sample passage in question to demonstrate.

One of the key words in Ephesians 1:14 is “glory.” This renders the Greek word doxa (δόξα ). And if you consult Scott's Lexicon for its meaning, you get four possibilities: (1) opinion, (2) sentiment, (3) mere opinion, and (4) vision. Only after these main usages are listed will you come to “glory, splendor,” the real meaning intended in Ephesians 1:14.

A huge improvement over a standard dictionary can be found in one geared particularly for Bible students. The most popular of these is readily available. It is called Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. To begin with, there are two different ways in which you can locate the listing you are looking for. Since it gives all its definitions alphabetically according to the English translation, you don't even need to know the Greek word to access it (at least initially). Turning to G, we find a little over one page devoted to the meaning or meanings of the noun “glory” as it appears in the NT. But you will also see that there are actually two Greek words that are translated that way: doxa and kleos.

We will assume for the minute that you know which of these two Greek words, namely, doxa, appears in Ephesians 1:14 (The next post will deal with the situation in which you don't happen to know). With that in mind, you can read what Vine has to say regarding some of the major places in the NT containing doxa and the particular nuance the word has in each case. And in the middle of his discussion, you will even find a short discussion of its particular meaning in Ephesians – “in Eph. 1:6,12,14, 'the praise of the glory of His grace' and 'the praise of His glory' signify the due acknowledgment of the exhibition of His attributes and ways; in Eph. 1:17, 'the Father of glory' describes Him as the source from all Divine splendor and perfection proceed in their manifestation and to whom they belong.”

Thus, Vine's would appear to be the only source you would need to consult for everything you might want to know, not only regarding the word doxa in general, but also its particular meaning within the context in question (the Book of Ephesians), including the exact verse you are studying.

Let's try out Vine on another word, “inheritance.” Here again we don't need to know the Greek word involved since Vine only gives one that is translated in that manner in the NT, kleronomia. In addition, Ephesians 1:14 is specifically cited in his discussion. Vine notes that there are four ways in which the word is applied: (1) property passed down from father to son on the former's death, (2) a portion of such estate, (3) “the prospective condition and possessions of the believer in the new order of things to be ushered in at the return of Christ,” and (4) “what the believer will be to God in that age.” Definition #3 covers Ephesians 1:14 while #4 applies in Ephesians 1:18, according to Vine.

The meaning of “redemption” is also described in Vine's. According to him, there are two Greek words with that meaning, (1) lutrosis and (2) apolutrosis. The second of these can be seen as a compound word derived from the first in order to strengthen its meaning. Vine says that it literally means, “a releasing, for (i.e., on payment of) a ransom.” The four nuances he gives for the latter word are (1) deliverance from physical torture, (2) “deliverance of the people of God at the Coming of Christ,” (3) forgiveness and justification, redemption as the result of expiation, deliverance from the guilt of sins,” and (4) “the deliverance of the believer from the presence and power of sin and of his body from bondage to corruption, and the Coming...of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Vine cites Ephesians 1:7 under #3 and Ephesians 1:14 under #4.

In this case we are fortunate to have located three key words in Ephesians 1:4 within Vine's Dictionary. But one may not be nearly as lucky with more obscure Greek words which are not included. And another thing to keep in mind is that all of the definitions in this book are the opinion of but one man, even though he may be an enlightened one. One thing that certainly is true is that the use of Vine will get you a lot closer to the extended meaning of a Greek word than you can get by simply comparing various translations with one another. And it is a great resource for finding at least a few other places in the NT where the same word may appear

Finally, for you Bible nerds, there are two extremely valuable word resources available from Zondervan Publishers. These are New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis (in 5 volumes) and New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (in 3 volumes). Both have extensive indexes at the end to help you find the entry you want by Bible passage, English translation, and/or original word. The only problem is that you will find more information that you will probably ever need.

Let's consult NIDONTT for some of the same key words we looked at in Vine's Dictionary. Thus, in the subject index under “Redemption,” we are referred to roughly 130 separate entries where that concept is discussed. But rather than giving up at that point, the index helpfully puts in bold the location of the most comprehensive entry for that word. And it is 44 pages long. Also, whereas Vine only listed two Greek words with that meaning, NIDONTT gives us seven possibilities. But I will assume that we had already narrowed it down to the word apolutrosis for Ephesians 1:14.

The first piece of information we get right under the heading is a brief definition of each of the seven words so that we can look at why Paul might have chosen apolutrosis rather than one of the other synonyms. Following this section are separate discussions on the meaning of each word in (a) classical Greek, (b) the Old Testament, as determined by which Hebrew words were translated by a particular Greek equivalent when the Septuagint was prepared slightly before the time of the NT writings, and (c) the appearance of each word in the NT writings.

After wading through page after page of detailed discussion, at last we come to the portion of the discussion relating specifically to apolutrosis. A bit surprisingly, the discussion of this noun and the associated verb is not much longer than that in Vine's. But it does give us some additional information not found there. First, it gives the statistics regarding how many times it is used in the NT (10x) as well as a breakdown of those occurrences into the Gospels, Acts, Pauline letters, etc.

Another tidbit of information we can find here is that compound words, such as this one, were generally preferred in Hellenistic times over the simple root word. From that fact, we should keep in mind that much in the Dictionary's extensive discussion on lutrosis might easily apply as well to apolutrosis since the NT authors may have chosen the latter variation for stylistic reasons only.

The author of the entry, Colin Brown in this case, gives a slant in his discussion not brought up in Vine's. I will not quote it, but basically Brown demonstrates through citing various NT passages that redemption has a present and future aspect, both based on the deliverance brought about by Christ's action on the cross.

At this point I realize that I have gotten the cart before the horse by not discussing first how one knows which Greek words stand behind the English words we are reading. One approach, if you have access to a good concordance, is to use it as described in the next post in this series. Another is to utilize a Greek-English Interlinear New Testament. Just look up the Bible passage of interest and it will place a literal English translation right below the corresponding Greek word in the verse. The only drawback is that the Greek is given using Greek letters instead of the English alphabet. But with the help of the handy alphabetical chart above, you can readily change it into a English transliteration.