Wisdom about Words

Recently I read on a blog comment that Hebrews/Israelites didn’t have abstract terms because the Hebrew mind doesn’t think that way. The commenter has not pondered Job or Ecclesiastes or such great terms as glory or justice or righteousness or salvation in the Hebrew Bible. This notion was put aside decades ago and needs to go the way of the dodo bird.

But it’s not just reading blogs that perks my attention about words, it’s also reading books and how some make much of a word in a way that befuddles those of us who have serious training in such things as “word studies” and concordances and word searches, not to mention deep familiarity with Kittel’s famous NT word dictionary, or Botterweck-Ringgren’s OT word dictionary, or Spicq’s brilliant three volume NT greek word lexicon.

A publisher sent me a book, and I won’t mention the publisher or the author, and I was excited to read the book because it was on a topic that has my full attention these days. The first chapter was flat-out wrong both on the meaning of a word and how to discern meanings of words, and the point of the chp was to correct everyone on that word’s meaning. In the book I found four or five transliterated Greek or Hebrew words that were so badly misspelled that what was given was not just a typo but a word that doesn’t even exist. I won’t go any further. Instead, I want to offer some wisdom about words:

First, the meaning of a word in your English Bible — say “salvation” — is not determined by studying the English word or the history of that English word. Instead, every time you talk about a word in the Bible it is a translation of a Hebrew, an Aramaic or a Greek term. The only word worth studying is the original language word. Why? Because who knows if the original language term was always translated by the same English term. (That is often assumed; it is rarely, if ever, the case.)

Example: the Greek word euthus is often translated “immediately” but sometimes with “all at once” or “just then” or “suddenly.” You have a decent chance of accuracy, if you look up the word “immediately” in an English concordance and study it, of getting a fair sample of the Greek word euthus. But the wiser course is to find all the references to euthus in the NT and examining them, regardless of how English translations translate the term.

So, word studies always need to be rooted in references to the original language term.

Second, these original language terms rarely, if ever, have only one meaning. Words are flexible little things and they can do the work most speakers and authors ask them to do. It is often said by linguists that no word has the same meaning in two locations or off the lips of two speakers. So, what to do? Ask the more particular question when studying words: What does this word mean when this (one) author uses it? And, also ask this: What does this one word mean by this one author in this one passage?

Please don’t assume that what a word means in Paul is what it means in Jesus and what it means in Jesus is what it means in Isaiah and what it means in Isaiah is what it means in Psalms and what it means in Psalms is what it means to Moses. Words don’t work like this; speakers and authors don’t work this way.

Words change in meaning over time.

Third, avoid using original language terms if you can’t read those languages. Here’s a rule of thumb: if you don’t know Greek, say this: “According to Spicq, this Greek word soteria means… “. Don’t say, “This word soteria means this.” In the former, you cite someone who knows; in the latter you lead your audience to think you know when you really don’t. Be honest, especially you preachers. I know a pastor who frequently says “My Greek teacher used to say…” and this is his way of saying “I’m with you; I’m not good at Greek; but here’s what the authorities say.”

Fourth, almost never break a word into its etymological components and then say “See, this is what the word means.” It is rare that a word means what its etymology suggests. The English word “sincere” comes from Latin and some say therefore it means “without wax” (sine + cere), and that’s at least disputed anyway. But the word “sincere” doesn’t mean “without wax” it means genuine or sound intentionally etc.

Yes, sometimes the etymology of a word leads us to its meaning and sometimes it illustrates the meaning well, but only say such things if you know the history of that term.

More could be said, this is enough. I’m sure others will have some wisdom too.

Why do I say these things? Because anyone who takes you as an authority will believe what you say, and if you don’t know what you are saying, you are trading on authority you don’t have and potentially leading people into mistakes.