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What does Paul mean by \u201cGreek\u201d? Though often taken as simply synonymous with \u201cGentile,\u201d it seems instead to have the more specific force of \u201cHellene,\u201d someone who is part of the Greco-Roman empire. ETHNOS means simply \u201cnation,\u201d and refers to nations other than Israel. A HELLEN is a member of a specific ETHNOS. There are several passages where the words appear in close proximity to one another, and these can be used as test cases for Paul\u2019s usage. Along with this, passages where HELLEN appears in connection with other ethnic designations are relevant to the discussion. <\/p>\n
1) In Rom 1:14, Paul distinguishes between the \u201cGreeks\u201d and \u201cbarbarians\u201d to whom he is obliged to preach the gospel, which appear, in the light of 1:13, to be subsets of the category \u201cGentile\u201d (ETHNE). Paul wants to obtain fruit among the Romans, as among the rest of the ETHNE, and this is supported by the debt he holds toward both HELLENES and \u201cbarbarians.\u201d \u201cGreek and barbarian\u201d thus seems to be another way of saying \u201cGentile.\u201d Given this usage, it seems that 1:16 must use \u201cGreek\u201d in a specific sense, not in a generic sense of \u201call Gentile nations.\u201d Paul is indeed obliged to \u201cbarbarians\u201d as well as to \u201cGreeks,\u201d but in the order of the gospel salvation comes to the \u201cJew\u201d and then to the \u201cHellenist.\u201d <\/p>\n
2) Both HELLEN and ETHNOS appear in Romans 10 as well. 10:12 appears to use \u201cGreek\u201d with a more universal force, since the announcement that there is \u201cno distinction between Jew and Greek\u201d is followed by the claim that \u201cthe same is Lord of all\u201d and the promise that God will save \u201call\u201d who call on Him. There is no apparent relation between \u201cGreek\u201d in this verse and the use of ETHNOS in verse 19, which is (properly) translated as \u201cnation\u201d by the NASB. <\/p>\n
3) In Galatians 2:2-3, the word \u201cGreek\u201d seems to be used in a more specific sense. Paul preaches among the Gentiles (2:2), which refers to the nations as such. But Titus is specifically said to be a \u201cGreek\u201d; this means he was a Gentile, but is also is a specific statement about Titus\u2019 ethnic origins. <\/p>\n
4) Colossians 3:11 uses \u201cGreek\u201d and \u201cJew\u201d in a passage talking about the gospel\u2019s destruction of distinctions among ethnic and social groups. Also listed are \u201cbarbarian\u201d and \u201cScythian,\u201d which suggests that \u201cGreek and Jew\u201d did not encompass the whole human race. Rather, they encompassed two specific groups, but there were other ETHNE outside of both Israel and the Hellenistic world. <\/p>\n
What are our results? It seems that Paul sometimes does use \u201cGreek\u201d in a way that is virtually interchangeable with \u201cGentile,\u201d but there are also places where he uses it in the specific sense of \u201cHellenist,\u201d and this possibility must be kept as a live exegetical option when the word is used. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does Paul mean by \u201cGreek\u201d? Though often taken as simply synonymous with \u201cGentile,\u201d it seems instead to have the more specific force of \u201cHellene,\u201d someone who is part of the Greco-Roman empire. ETHNOS means simply \u201cnation,\u201d and refers to nations other than Israel. A HELLEN is a member of a specific ETHNOS. There are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-romans"],"yoast_head":"\n