Looking up the word "fire"
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| Theological Dictionary of the New Testament |
πύρ pýr
[fire] <G4442>,
πυρόω pyróō
[to burn, set on fire] <G4448>,
πύρωσις pýrōsis
[burning, fiery] <G4451>,
πύρινος pýrinos
[fiery] <G4447>,
πυρρός pyrrós
[fiery-red] <G4450>
pýr.
A. The Greek and Hellenistic World.
I. General Usage.
1. Literal. pýr is “fire” in its various forms and uses, e.g., for burning, lighting, and warming. Fire is a beneficent and civilizing power but also a destructive and terrifying force. In war it destroys ships, cities, etc., but industrially it serves to purify metals etc.
2. Transferred. Fire denotes violence, irresistibility, desire, and yearning. It figures in various expressions, e.g., “pouring oil on flames,” “out of the frying pan into the fire.”
II. Philosophy.
In philosophy fire is one of the two, four, or five elements. For Heraclitus it is the basic material; the world is the play of fire in various forms of change, namely, from fire to water to earth and back again. In Stoicism all reality is physical. The purest substance is a rational firelike breath that shapes, upholds, and overrules all things. The world is a form of the primal fire in an endless cycle. The soul, as fire, continues after death but returns to the primal fire at the cosmic conflagration.
III. Religion.
1. At first fire is an antidote to evil influences. At death polluted fire is put out and new fire brought. Fire forms a part of various ceremonies, e.g., after birth, before assemblies, etc. In some rites living animals are burned on funeral pyres on hilltops. When cremation establishes itself, the belief persists that fire cannot destroy the soul.
2. In the worship of the gods, Hephaistos and Hestia are associated with the fire of the volcano and the fire of the hearth. Pythagoreans regard the central fire as the hearth of the cosmos, and from the sacred national hearth colonists take fire for the hearth in new settlements. Zeus, Hermes, and Dionysus are also associated in different ways with fire. In theophanies fire is an expression of glory. Fiery phenomena also serve as omens, and descriptions of the underworld contain many references to fire, sometimes with a purifying function.
3. Fire plays a big part in the mysteries in connection with purification before initiation. As a source of light it symbolizes the transfer from darkness to light. In the Roman Bacchanalia raving women fling torches into the Tiber. The fire-god Aeon is called the lord of fire and is said to breathe fire, to sow fire, to be strong and joyous in fire, and to be fire-roaring and fire-whirling. For all its destructive aspects, fire is for the most part connected with deity and spirit.
B. Persian Fire Worship.
Fire is especially worshipped in Persia. In cosmological dualism fire and the snake represent truth and falsehood. In the human struggle for good conduct, fire is on the good side. Worship is thus paid to it as an embodiment of spiritual divine power. Nothing connected with deformity or death must come into contact with it; thus corpses are exposed to beasts of prey, which embody the world of the evil spirit. In eschatology fire serves the purpose of final testing. All people will go into molten metal, the righteous coming through unscathed, the wicked suffering. The renewed earth will be a smooth, ice-free plain. At first worship is at a flaming altar in the open, but later a temple of fire comes into use, at whose center is the sacred fire that no human hand must touch or human breath defile, so that the priests who tend it wear mittens and gags and use ritually purified wood. From the sacred hearth new fire is fetched to burn in the houses.
C. The OT, Later Judaism, and Gnosticism.
I. The OT.
1. In the LXX, where it occurs some 490 times, pýr usually renders Heb. ʾēš. Other originals are rare. Some 100 instances occur in works that are only in Greek.
2. Technical Use. In everyday use, fire serves in cooking, manufacture, metal work, war, etc. Kindling fires is forbidden on the sabbath (Ex. 35:3). In the cultus the altar fire is kept burning (Lev. 6:2, 6). It alone is to be used for sacrifice (cf. Lev. 10:1). Offering children is strictly forbidden (Lev. 20:2, See below comment by Rick Livermore but cf. 2 Kgs. 16:3; 21:6). Fire is also a means of purification (Lev. 13:52). In nature, lightning is God’s fire (Job 1:16; Ex. 9:28). In Amos 7:4 ʾēš means summer heat or drought. Job 28:5 compares mining to volcanic activity; the reference may be to “firing,” i.e., prying hard rocks loose with a fire of wood.
3. Transferred Use. Destructive human passions are compared to fire (Prov. 26:20-21; Sirach 28:10-11; Prov. 6:27-28). Fire also represents God’s judicial wrath (Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 21:36; Zeph. 1:18; Nah. 1:6; Ps. 79:5). Various thoughts are present, e.g., the forest fire in Jer. 21:14, the fiery oven in Ps. 21:9, the refining fire in Mal. 3:2, lightning in Lam. 1:13. Irresistibility is a primary concept. Escaping great danger is compared to a brand plucked from the burning in Zech. 3:2. Fire expresses dissolution in Mic. 1:4 and purifying in Isa. 1:22. Illumination by fire plays only a very small role (cf. Nah. 2:4).
4. Fire in Relation to God.
a. Theophany. In most OT theophanies fire represents God’s holiness and glory. The fire may be natural (Ex. 19) or it may be the unusual fire of the burning bush (3:2; cf. Judg. 6:21). The pillar of fire represents God’s ongoing presence (Ex. 13:21-22). At Horeb God himself is not in the fire (1 Kgs. 19:12); true revelation is by the word. At the call of Isaiah (ch. 6) fire purges unclean lips. In Ezek. 1:28 fire expresses the divine radiance (cf. Dan. 7).
b. A Means of Judgment. God judges by fire and brimstone in Gen. 19:24. Fire and hail form the seventh plague in Ex. 9:24. Fire from God or from heaven is a phrase for judgment in Lev. 10:2; 2 Kgs. 1:10. Fire smites both Israel’s enemies (Amos 1:4ff.) and disobedient Israel herself (Amos 2:5). Eschatologically, fire is a sign of the day of the Lord (Joel 2:20), it denotes final destruction (Mal. 3:19), and it stands for eternal punishment (Mal. 3:19).
c. A Sign of Grace. Fire indicates God’s gracious acceptance of sacrifices in Gen. 15:17. It plays a role in the taking up of Elijah in 2 Kgs. 2:11. It is a sign of guidance and protection in Ex. 13:21-22 (cf. 2 Kgs. 6:17). It depicts God’s final dwelling among his people in Isa. 4:5.
d. A Term for God. The description of God as a consuming fire (Dt. 4:24) denotes his majestic being embracing grace and judgment. In the OT fire is viewed theocentrically rather than cosmologically. It expresses God’s glory in revelation and judgment.
II. Later Judaism.
1. Apocalyptic. In apocalyptic the stars are called fiery bodies, humans are said to be composed of earth, water, air, and fire, the idea of a cosmic conflagration occurs, angels are fiery beings, and fire represents punishment in the world to come.
2. The Rabbis. Some rabbinic works view fire as preexistent, others speak of its creation. Various forms of fire are distinguished, e.g., fever, the fire of Gabriel, and God’s fire, along with other ordinary forms. The law is associated with fire, and fire marks its students, so that the fire of hell has no power over them. The place of the dead becomes a place of fire in punishment of the wicked. Sheol is an intermediate stage, Gehinnom the final place of punishment. Punishments in the intermediate place are for purification, and prayers and almsgiving may shorten or alleviate them. All transgressors in Israel as well as the eternally rejected will go through the intermediate place. Various descriptions are given of the intermediate and final fire, e.g., its heat, intensity, duration, etc. Fire characterizes the heavenly world, e.g., the angels and the finger of God.
3. Qumran. The Qumran works also expect a final fiery judgment on God’s enemies. Fire denotes affliction, but there is also an eternal fire of hell. Traces of the idea of a cosmic conflagration may be seen.
4. Hellenistic Judaism.
a. Philo adopts the idea of four elements and depicts the nature and cultural significance of fire after the manner of Greek philosophy. Yet he does not equate the human spirit with fire. For him the penal aspect is less important; in the case of Nadab and Abihu the judgment leads to fellowship with God. His stress on God’s transcendence protects him from the fire-monism of Stoicism.
b. Josephus uses fire in the literal sense; he also has pureíon for “fuel” and puretós for “fever.”
III. Gnostic Usage.
1. Hermetic Writings. In these works fire denotes the material cosmos, the planetary and demonic sphere, and sensual passion.
2. Coptic Gnostic Works. Here the sublunar world is surrounded by fiery spheres. The ascending soul must pass through the fire zone of the archons. Fiery judgments punish sinners according to their deeds. Along with the baptism of water and the Spirit, there is a baptism of fire.
3. Mandaean Literature. These works contrast living fire and consuming fire. Positively, fire belongs to the victorious and eternal king of light and clothes or crowns his envoys. The soul, too, is living fire. Negatively, consuming or flaming fire is that of material life or judgment. It marks the wicked world, the body, and passion on the one side, eschatological judgment on the other. In one work fire is the root of all things. Visible fire arises out of invisible. Everything material will be dissolved in the final conflagration.
D. The NT.
1. The Earthly Phenomenon. Only rarely does pýr denote the earthly phenomenon in the NT. Lightning is meant in Heb. 1:7, heat in Rev. 16:8, everyday fire in Mark 9:22, a kind of watchfire in Luke 22:55, a fire for warming in Acts 28:2ff., fire as a means of execution in Heb. 11:34, and as a weapon of war in Rev. 17:16. There is no cultic fire in the NT (but cf. Rev. 8:5).
II. Figurative Use.
1. Fire is a figure of final judgment (cf. the unfruitful tree in Matt. 3:10, chaff in Matt. 3:12, tares in Matt. 13:40, unfruitful branches in Jn. 15:6). Jms. 5:3 interweaves the material and figurative elements more closely. The testing fire of Prov. 17:3 is applied in 1 Pet. 1:7 to the keeping of hope and faith in afflictions, and in Rev. 3:18 to repentance with a view to true riches.
2. The destructive power of the tongue is a fire in Jms. 3:51; it has the force of cosmic conflagration. The context of Luke 12:49 suggests that the fire of discord is in view.
III. Theological Use.
1. Theophanies. Stephen alludes to the fire at the bush in Acts 7:30, and Hebrews refers to the divine self-revelation at Sinai in 12:18ff. When Christ appears to Paul, however, there is only light, not fire (Acts 9:3).
2. A Means of Judgment. Fire in temporal judgments occurs only with OT references (cf. Luke 9:54; 17:26ff.). The NT usually has eschatological fire in view.
a. Fire symbolizes this judgment in Revelation. Fire and hail in 8:7 remind us of the seventh plague. The allusion in 8:8 is to a volcano or a star. The horses of 9:17-18 spew out fire. Divine fire protects the two witnesses in 11:3. In the last days false prophets bring down fire from heaven (13:13). An angel of fire comes forth to execute judgment in 14:18.
b. More directly fire represents the eschatological fire of judgment.
(a) The Baptist portrays judgment in terms of fire in Matt. 3:11.
(b) Jesus perhaps has this fire in mind in the paradox of Mark 9:49: Those who do not accept God’s judgment by self-denial fall victim to the wrath to come (cf. Matt. 10:39; Mark 10:25ff.). In Luke 12:49-50 the one who baptizes with the Spirit and fire must first take the way of suffering himself (cf. v. 50). Judgment is already present in and with Jesus; relationship to him decides between alienation from God and fellowship with him.
(c) pýr denotes final judgment in the three instances in Paul. In 1 Cor. 3:13 the last judgment will disclose the value of Christian service. Poor work will be burned up, but the workers will be saved “as through fire,” i.e., not by purgation but by the skin of their teeth. Combined here are the thoughts of the house on fire, the Lord’s coming with fire, purifying fire, and a narrow escape. In 2 Th. 1:7-8 Jesus will come again with fire; this is plainly the fire of judgment. In Rom. 12:20 Paul quotes Prov. 25:21-22 to back up his call for renunciation of revenge. The idea is that we should avenge ourselves by doing good, but the phrase “coals of fire” carries a secondary reference to the final judgment that will come on enemies it they do not react with a change of heart.
(d) In other NT books pýr is the fire of final judgment in Heb. 12:29. In Rev. 20:9 God inflicts fiery judgment on Gog and Magog in the last struggle. In 2 Pet. 3:7 a final conflagration will end the present world order as the flood overwhelmed the primal world.
c. In the NT fire is often hellfire.
(a) In the sayings of Jesus pýr is the opposite of basileía or zōḗ (Matt. 13:42; 18:8-9; Mark 9:43). Mark 9:49 quotes Isa. 66:24, and this verse lies behind the “unquenchable fire” of Mark 9:43 (cf. the “eternal fire” of Matt. 18:8).
(b) In Jude 7 the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah already suffer hellfire, and in v. 23 the proverbial snatching from the fire denotes saving from hellfire.
(c) In Revelation fire and brimstone denote eternal punishment (14:10). Hell is the abyss in 20:3 and the lake of fire in 19:20; 20:10; 21:8; the imagery may well derive from phenomena at the Dead Sea.
(d) John with its stronger emphasis on present decision does not refer to fire, although a place remains for Christ’s return in judgment.
3. A Sign of Heavenly Glory. Fire signifies heavenly glory in Rev. 1:9ff.: The eyes of the glorified Jesus are as a flame of fire, and his feet are like bronze refined in a furnace (cf. also 2:18). Angels have feet like pillars of fire in 10:1; this denotes their heavenly glory. Fire also expresses the splendor of heaven when 4:5 equates the seven torches with the seven spirits of God. The crystal sea before God’s throne (4:6) is the heavenly counterpart of the molten sea of the temple (1 Kgs. 7:23); it is mingled with fire in 15:2. In Acts 2:3 the comparison with fire indicates the heavenly origin of the descending Spirit. In the main, fire signifies judgment in the NT, but the divine judgment and the divine glory go together. Fire signifies the whole eschatological denouement, whether in hell or in heaven.
E. The Apostolic Fathers.
I. The Biblical Tradition.
The apostolic fathers usually follow the biblical tradition, either quoting the Bible (2 Clem. 7.6 etc.) or using fire for the fire of judgment (Ignatius Ephesians 16.2) or hellfire (2 Clem. 17:7). Diog., 8.2 contests the Stoic equation of fire and deity in the light of hellfire. Only 2 Clement and Hermas refer to a cosmic conflagration. As in the OT fire may be a temporal judgment (1 Clem. 11:1). Some martyrs are executed by fire, but this fire cannot really harm them (Mart. Pol. 15-16). Fire is a test in Hermas Visions 4.3.4; Did. 16.4-5.
II. Alien Influences.
The Gnostic opposing of fire and water may be seen in Ignatius Romans 7.2. Fire as love of the world or impulse toward matter occurs in Ignatius Romans 6.2. Diognetus sees in fire one of the elements. For the most part, however, alien factors are slight compared to the strong biblical impact.
pyróō.
A. The Greek World.
1. This word means a. “to burn,” “to destroy with fire,” b. “to treat with fire,” e.g., “to bake,” “to roast,” “to smelt,” “to smoke out,” c. “to make fire” or, passively, “to become fire,” and d. “to be hot to the taste,” “to suffer heartburn.”
2. Figurative senses are “to be incensed” and “to be seized with love.”
B. Judaism.
1. In the LXX the literal sense is late. The most common use is for refining metals, hence for divine testing (Isa. 1:25) and certifying (2 Sam. 22:31).
2. Philo uses only the passive either literally, “to be glowing with heat,” or more often figuratively, “to be inflamed with emotion” (good or bad), e.g., thanksgiving, righteous indignation, zeal, passion. Philo combines the thought of divine testing with the Stoic concept of fiery reason.
3. Josephus uses the verb only in the literal sense “to burn.”
4. Qumran refers to the testing of the sect by opposition.
C. The NT.
1. Paul uses the verb only in the figurative and the passive for being inflamed with emotion. In 1 Cor. 7:9 it is better to marry than to burn with desire. In 2 Cor. 11:29 Paul is consumed with sympathy when a member of the church is offended. An attack on the church is an attack on him.
2. The Christian armor of Eph. 6:11ff. includes the shield of faith which can quench the fiery darts of the wicked. The thought is that of the conflict between believers and the hosts of Belial (cf. Qumran).
3. A literal sense occurs in 2 Pet. 3:12 in depiction of the final conflagration.
4. Revelation adopts the OT metaphor of the testing of precious metals. In 3:18 purified gold signifies genuine faith and salvation. This metaphor helps us to understand the expression in 1:15.
D. The Apostolic Fathers.
The reference in Mart. Pol. 15.2 is to the metals, not the furnace. Hermas Visions 4.3.4 regards the image of testing gold as a call to help in building the tower.
pýrōsis.
1. This word means “burning,” “baking,” “burning desire,” “fever.”
2. In Prov. 27:21 it means testing in the fire, and in Amos 4:9 the blasting of crops.
3. Josephus uses it for the punishment of Sodom (Antiquities 1.203).
4. In Rev. 18:9 pýrōsis denotes the destruction of Babylon by fire. A testing by fire is the point in 1 Pet. 4:12; a link is seen here with the coming revelation of Christ in glory (v. 13).
5. The idea of a future trial by fire is present in Did. 16.5.
pýrinos.
1. This word means “fiery” and occurs for fiery bodies, things that are fiery hot, or, figuratively, great violence.
2. In the LXX, where it is rare, the term denotes the radiance of heavenly phenomena (Ezek. 28:14, 16).
3. The only NT instance is in Rev. 9:17, where the riders wear fiery breastplates, i.e., either the color of fire or engulfed in the fire from their mouths. The description shows that they are destructive demonic beings.
pyrrós.
1. This word means “fiery-red” or “flame-colored.” It is used for hair, for the manes of lions etc., for the bloodshot eyes of dogs, and for blushes.
2. The LXX uses the term for the red pottage of Gen. 25:30, the red heifer of Num. 19:2, the water red like blood of 2 Kgs. 3:22, and the red horses of Zech. 1:8.
3. Philo does not use the word but Josephus has it in Antiquities 1.34.
4. The colors of the horsemen in Rev. 6:1ff. are based on those of Zechariah. The rider on the red horse causes war and bloodshed. The red color of the fiery dragon of 12:3 signifies his bellicose and bloodthirsty character.
5. In the apostolic fathers 1 Clem. 8:3 is based on Isa. 1:18, although the expression in v. 4 is a proverbial one. -- Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
Abortion is a possible application to one of the above verses
20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, oAny one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his f children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. -- ESV Bible
https://biblia.com/books/esv/bibleesv. Leviticus 20:2
f Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire]
o Leviticus 18:21-23
Leviticus 18:21 You shall not give any of your children to eoffer them2 to fMolech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. -- ESV Bible
https://biblia.com/books/esv/bibleesv.Le18.21-23
e Leviticus 20.2-5 Deuteronomy 18.10
f Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire]\
"offering children is strictly forbidden"-Rick Livermore
In conclusion, This resource is unique among the resources of this type in how well it describes the English and Greeks words that are found in the New Testament-Rick Livermore
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2nd Revised edition)
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2nd Revised edition)
Appendix / Bibliography
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Theological Dictionary of the New Testament |
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume.A. The Greek and Hellenistic World.
The Classic Reference Edition, English Standard Version® (ESV®)Copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
Copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
All rights reserved
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