Biblical Concept: Biblical Words And Their Definitions
In the process of human communication, verbal or written, a general statement is: “Words have definitions but sentences have meaning.”
Particularly in Biblical Hebrew and Greek, a sentence and its relation to other sentences in a paragraph, can make definitions for certain words in the sentence.
The Biblical Greek word
kataluo (kata,luw) provides an
interesting demonstration of sentence contexts defining a word. Kataluo is a compound word made by prefixing the preposition
kata to the
verb luo. Kata means “down, down from.” Luo means “to loosen, to destroy.” Literal definitions are “down destroy” or
“down loosen.” The following is a list
of all the verses containing katalou and I
have underlined the translation of the word in each verse:
NAS Matthew 5:17 "Do
not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come
to abolish, but to fulfill.
NAS Matthew 24:2 And He
answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say
to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be
torn down."
NAS Matthew 26:61 and
said, "This man stated, 'I am able to destroy the
NAS Matthew 27:40 and
saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild
it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the
cross."
NAS Mark 13:2 And Jesus
said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left
upon another which will not be torn down."
NAS Mark 14:58 "We
heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three
days I will build another made without hands.'"
NAS Mark 15:29 And those
passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha!
You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three
days,
NAS Luke 9:12 And the day
began to decline, and the twelve came and said to Him, " Send the multitude
away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find
lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place.
"
NAS Luke 19:7 And when
they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to
be the guest of a man who is a sinner."
NAS Luke 21:6 "As
for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which
there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down."
NAS Acts 5:38 "And
so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone,
for if this plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown;
NAS Acts 5:39 but if it is
of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found
fighting against God. "
NAS Acts 6:14 for we have
heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and
alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. "
NAS Romans 14:20 Do not tear
down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but
they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.
NAS 2 Corinthians 5:1 For
we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have
a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
NAS
Galatians 2:18 "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed,
I prove myself to be a transgressor.
NAS Mark 14:14 and
wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where
is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My
disciples?"'
NAS Luke 2:7 And she gave
birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a
manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
NAS Luke 22:11 "And
you shall say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says to you," Where is
the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?
"'
Observations: These
examples of kataluo display sentences in various contexts which require a variety of
translations, within the root meaning of “down loosen, down destroy,” to make
the best sense in the sentence. (Homonyms[1]
in United States of America English are examples of words dependant on sentence
context for definition.)
Conclusions: When Greek
sentences are translated into English sentences, multiple decisions are
required before individual word translations can be realized. Factors in translation decisions are: objective
approach, Divine inspiration, authorship, genre, style, isagogics, textual
variants, greater context, local context, immediate context, literal meaning, grammatical
observations (many), grammatical relationships (many), hyperbole, rhetoric, ellipsis,
purposeful ambiguity, concordance word studies, etc.
[1] A homonym is: “A word that is used to designate several different things.” Example: The sky is blue. I am feeling blue. In these sentences, blue describes a physical phenomenon of earth’s atmosphere and a human emotional status—a very diverse range, depending the on context.