Other Word Studies

• Abba
  In the darkness of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed alone. Despite the coolness of the evening there were sweat-drops on his brow. Despite the apparent calmness of the hour there was agony in his heart. With loud crying and tears he lifted up his voice to God, saying, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). This was the first time in J


• Agreement
  How should a man live? By the law of the jungle? Should the stronger rule the weaker? Is it right for the powerful to plunder the powerless? These were the questions at stake in a discussion between Socrates and his


• Ambassador
  Ambassador, from the Greek presbyteuo, as explained by Kenny Boles.


• Ambition
  There was trouble in old Arcadia. No sooner had the new concept of “democracy” begun to spread through the area, than along came its by product corrupt politicians. Such men would shamelessly canvass to get votes, even hiring partisans to


• Anger
  I've been noticing lately that my sins are not as bad as other people's sins. Oh, I know we all have sins and that is wrong, but I mean that my sins are more understandable. Do you know what I


• Anoint
  Some of you may be too young to remember those good old days, when a barber would top off every haircut with a generous splash of oil. He would pour the oil on your head and rub it in with


• Atonement
  The gods of old were a cantankerous bunch Since they were the inventions of man's imagination, they had the same flaws as men have. They were irritable, selfish, and capricious. They were so unpredictable that men always feared them. Men


• Authority
  In keeping with the theme of politics and government in this issue, it seemed like a good idea to research the word “authority.” Used 108 times in the N.T., the Greek word for “authority” is exousia (ex ou SEE ah).


• Babbler
  It was not enough for Caligula to be emperor of the whole Roman Empire. He also wanted to be worshipped as a god. While some of the provinces were willing to add him to their list of gods, Judea refused


• Baptize
  BAPTIZE is a violent word It comes from a rough, tough background and has an aroma of death about it. When people of the first Century heard the Greek word baptizo (bahp TEEDZ oh), they not only thought of immersion


• Bearing the Load
  There are burdens, and then there are burdens. But not all burdens are the same. Some burdens are so heavy they cannot be borne alone. Our brothers must help—and so we “bear one another’s burdens” in Gal 6 2. (The


• Beautiful
  Do you have beautiful feet? I mean beautiful in the Biblical sense of the word “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who proclaim good news” (Romans 10 15). The Greek word for beautiful in this passage is


• Beg Off
  On a certain occasion in ancient times there was to be a great wrestling match. The preparations were made and a crowd gathered. On one side stood Tiberius Claudius Marcianus on the other side stood several challengers. As Tiberius stripped


• Bless
  Sometimes words change in their meanings. If we go back too far in history we might find a meaning that is not right for a given N.T. passage. Or, if we use a more recent meaning, we may not be


• Blessed
  “Happy are those who mourn,” says one popular translation of the Beatitude in Matthew 5 4. It seems an impossibility, a contra¬diction of terms. Maybe we had better go back to the old familiar, “Blessed are they . . ."


• Blot Out
  There's a New Year ahead You get a clean slate ¬freshly erased and wiped clean. Or do you? Is the slate really wiped clean by a new calendar? Can the past be erased?The Greek word for “erase” or “blot out”


• Boldness
  Democracy was born in ancient Greece. When the citizens of a Greek city gathered in their public assembly (ekklesia) they had the right of free speech. They felt free to speak their minds with complete boldness. Their word for this


• Born of Water
  “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3 5).There is a popular idea that “born of water” may refer to physical birth, and thus have nothing to do with baptism.


• Boxing
  Iatrocles was a man who drew a crowd. He was tall and muscular; he was "a beautiful young man." He probably could have said with Mohammed Ali, another boxer who became famous, "Ain't I pretty!"


• Breathe On
  Let’s start with the basic word physao (fu SAH oh), which meant in ancient Greek to “puff, snort, or blow.” It referred to letting out a blast of air, as from a bellows in a blacksmith’s shop. It was the


• Build Up
  "For everything there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven." Such is the wisdom of Ecclesiastes. Included in the list is this: "a time to tear down, and a time to build up" (Eccl 3:3).


• Call Upon
  The rulers of ancient Athens had an uprising on their hands. Rebel forces were amassing an army war was eminent. Quickly the leaders “sent to ask help from Thessaly, with whom they had an alliance.” The word in Greek history


• Character
  The making of coins is an ancient art. First, a skilled craftsman with a good engraving tool would carve out a die. Then this die would be used to stamp a piece of precious metal with the official insignia. A


• Chosen
  We are God's chosen few All others will be damned. There is no room for you We can't have heaven crammed This arrogant piece of sarcasm from Jonathan Swift accurately reflects the attitude of God’s people at various points in history.


• Cling To
  Thetis was a devoted mother. As a seagoddess of ancient myth, she took a human lover and gave birth to Achilles. She held the infant by the heel and dipped him in the River Styx, thus giving him almost total


• Commitment
  Commitment.That’s what we need commitment. Let’s rally the troops and read them some scriptures on this fine word Let’s go to our concordance and find all the passages where “commitment” is found in the Bible. OK? But surprisingly, “commitment” is


• Compassion
  “Bowels and mercies”? How did that phrase get into the Bible? (See Phil 2 1, KJV.) The story behind the word is more logical than you might think. The King James translators chose “bowels” as the best translation for the Greek


• Conscience
  “To sit alone with my conscience, will be judgment enough for me.” C. W. Stubbs (1876)What is this thing called “conscience”? And what did I ever do to it, that would make it want to torment me so? Let’s begin our


• Contend as Athletes
  The Greek word for "contend as an athlete" was athleo (ath LEH oh). It was used to describe athletes in games and also soldiers in military contests. As well as skill, it implied great effort and struggle. Paul used a form of this word (synathleo) twice in Philippians.


• Corrupt
  The modern issues of euthanasia (“mercy killing”) and abortion are not new. Centuries before Christ, Greek physicians were taking the Hippocratic Oath, which included these lines “I will not give a death ¬producing medicine to anyone when I am asked


• Covenant
  What is a covenant? In English the word usually means an “agreement” or “a written contract.” But what did the word mean in Greek—specifically in the original Greek New Testament?When Paul and others wrote about God’s covenant with man, there


• Create
  The Greeks had a certain word they used to describe how someone would "found" a city, or "plant" a grove of trees, or "initiate" a sacred feast, or "establish" a great athletic contest. The same word was used of the


• Cross
  Amid the bloodshed of the French Revolution, a gentle physician persuaded the national Assembly to carry out their numerous executions in a more humane way, allowing the condemned to have the most rapid and painless death possible. Dr. Guillotin's suggestion


• Crown
  In the late summer of 480 B.C. the Persian king Xerxes defeated the Greeks at a place called Thermopylae. When the king began to interrogate his captives he chanced upon a curious piece of information about the character of his


• Dawn
  The goddess of Dawn (Eos) in Greek mythology was beautiful and loving. Dawn was perpetually beginning, always new, eternally young. One day Dawn went to Zeus to ask for immortality for her beloved Tithonus, but she forgot to ask that


• Decisive Moment
  The Decisive Moment, in Greek, the kairos, as explained by Kenny Boles.


• Deliver
  Odysseus, on his famed journey in Greek mythology, was preparing to sail through a dangerous strait. On one side was a man eating monster on the other side was a great whirlpool.“May you not be there when it sucks down,”


• Destruction
  “Broad is the road that leads to destruction,” said Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7 13). There are “foolish and harmful desires,” said Paul, “that plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim 6 9). “The day


• Don't Care
  The stonemason’s sons were thieves. When one of them was caught in the king’s trap, his headless body was hung on the town wall. The brother, his partner in crime, went into hiding. But their mother could not bear the


• Dwell
  will start with two closely related words skene (skay NAY) and skenoo (skay NAW oh). The skene was the ancient Greek word for a tent, and skenoo meant “I pitch a tent.” We will watch as these words develop meanings


• Earnest
  We were about to buy our very first house. It was a nice house, well worth the $12,000 purchase price, but I had to swallow hard to force out the words, “We’ll take it.”“Fine,” said the real estate lady. “Would


• Empty
  An ancient papyrus tells of a certain rich man who was stripped of all his sordid possessions. In a similar vein Josephus wrote of a protest by Herod the Great that Jerusalem must not be pillaged or totally emptied of


• Endure
  Hector leaped down from his chariot. Grabbing a spear in each hand, he bravely plunged into the battle. His courage inspired the Trojan army to make a renewed effort to defeat the invading Greeks. He called for the troops to


• Entice
  (Editor's Note This article was written by Mike Armstrong, a student in Kenny Boles' Greek II class some years ago.)The skilled trappers of last century's wild frontier knew where and how to place and bait their traps in order to


• Entrust
  There are times in life when you have to part with something you would rather keep in your own possession. But you entrust that item to someone you can depend on, and go your way. Sometimes, as in the case


• Envy
  A person I know just bought a brand new, loaded with options, absurdly luxurious gas hog. Why, I wouldn't have one of those things if you gave it to me But somehow it really irritates me to think that this


• Equip
  Question What do a surgeon, a fisherman, and a drill sergeant have in common? Answer A single Greek word, katartizo (kah tar TIDZ oh) describes at least part of the work of each profession. The word means “to set a


• Example
  He left no estate. He left no possessions. He had built no monuments to be remembered by. One thing He did leave, however, was an example.“Christ suffered for your sake, leaving behind an example for you, that you might follow


• Factions
  The city states of Greece were choosing up sides. With the Persians driven off, now the Greeks were fighting among themselves. All the lesser powers were becoming allies with one or the other of the two super powers—Athens and Thebes.


• Fall Into
  When a person fell into poverty or ruin in ancient times, the word was empipto (em PIP to). Similarly, the same word was used for the unsuspecting victim who fell into an ambush or fell into barbarian swords. Whether prison,