- εὐλογία
- εὐλογία, ας, ἡ (s. prec. two entries; Pind.+).① act of speaking in favorable terms, praise (Pind., Thu. et al.; OGI 74 [III B.C.] θεοῦ εὐλογία. Θεύδοτος Ἰουδαῖος σωθεὶς ἐκ πελάγους; Sb 317; 1117; T. Kellis 22, 11f; Herm. Wr. 1, 30 εὐ. τ. πατρὶ θεῷ; 2 Esdr 19:5; Sir 50:20; Jos., Ant. 11, 80 εἰς θεόν) Rv 5:12f; 7:12.② in an extended sense of ‘fine speaking’ (Pla., Rep. 3, 400d; Lucian, Lexiph. 1), ἐ. is used in a pejorative sense (Aesop 274 and 274b H.=155 P., 222 Ch., 160 H-H. uses the adj. εὔλογος of an argument that sounds good but is false; cp. Lucian, Abdic. 22) and specifically of words that are well chosen but untrue, false eloquence, flattery Ro 16:18 (v.l. εὐγλωττίας).③ act or benefit of blessing, blessingⓐ by which persons call down God’s grace upon other persons (opp. κατάρα, as Gen 27:12; Sir 3:9; Philo, Mos. 1, 283; Jos., Ant. 4, 302; TestBenj 6:5; JosAs 9:1) Js 3:10. Often the explanation of Hb 12:17 is thought to be given in Gen 27:38. Others place the passage under bα. ἡ εὐ. τοῦ Ζαχαρίου GJs 24:1.ⓑ of God’s activity in blessing (Wsd 15:19; Sir 11:22 al.) 1 Cl 31:1. ὁδοὶ τ. εὐλογίας the ways of blessing i.e. those which God blesses, ibid.α. as benefit bestowed by God or Christ (Gen 49:25; Ex 32:29; Lev 25:21 al.; PsSol 5:17; JosAs 24:6) μεταλαμβάνει εὐλογίας shares the blessing Hb 6:7 (but s. 4 below). εὐ. πνευματική spiritual blessing Eph 1:3. εὐ. Χριστοῦ Ro 15:29; κληρονομεῖν τὴν εὐ. Hb 12:17 (s. a above); 1 Pt 3:9. εὐ. τοῦ Ἀβραάμ Gal 3:14 (cp. Gen 28:4). ἐσχάτην εὐ. ultimate/finest blessing GJs 6:2 (cp. Just., D. 91, 1 εὐλογίᾳ, ἥν εὐλόγει τὸν Ἰωσήφ; also s. εὐλογέω 3).β. in a special sense of divine benefit bestowed in the Eucharist: blessing (εὐλογέω 2b) τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐ. the cup that conveys blessing, defined as ‘sharing in the blood of Christ’ 1 Cor 10:16 (JosAs 8:11 καὶ πιέτω ποτήριον εὐλογίας σου; here a technical term for the cup of wine drunk at the close of an Israelite’s meal; HGressmann, Sellin Festschr. 1927, 55ff; ROtto, The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man, tr. FFilson and BLee-Woolf, ’57, 265ff).ⓒ as benefit brought by humans (Gen 33:11; 1 Km 25:27; 4 Km 5:15.—Cyr. Scyth. uses εὐλογία=‘gift, bounty’ [from humans] without biblical influence: 68, 17 and 28; 217, 16; 238, 12; also εὐλογέω=bestow 137, 9) 2 Cor 9:5a; mng. 4 is in favor with some interpreters.④ Since the concept of blessing connotes the idea of bounty, εὐ. also bears the mng. generous gift, bounty (opp. πλεονεξία) 2 Cor 9:5b; perh. also 5a, s. 3c above. ἐπʼ εὐλογίαις (opp. φειδομένως) bountifully 9:6ab (Philo, Leg. All. 3, 210: ἐπʼ εὐλογίαις=in order that blessed influence might be felt). This may perh. be the place for Hb 6:7 (s. 3bα above) γῆ … μεταλαμβάνει εὐλογίας ἀπὸ τ. θεοῦ the earth receives rich bounty from God. RAC VI 900–928. JMateos, Análisis de un campo lexematico—Εὐλογία en el NT: Filologí a Neotestamentaria 1, ’88, 5–25; cp. Betz, 2 Cor 96–99, 103.—Renehan ’85, 73f. M-M. TW.
Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά παλαιοχριστιανική Λογοτεχνία. 2015.