I
Instruct, Chastise
Pais (Gen: paidos)
means a boy or lad, and paidion means a little child. So,
fairly obviously, paideuo is the word for “teach,
instruct”. Thus: “Moses was learned, instructed, in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). And Saul the Pharisee was
“taught according to the perfect manner of the fathers (the
rabbis)” (Acts 22:3).
But since in every generation except this sloppy
20th-century thorough education has necessarily had to be accompanied or
enforced by discipline — paideuo also has as a distinct
meaning: “chastise”. In this sense it is used a good deal in the NT,
especially in Hebrews: “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”
(12:6,7,10). “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Rev
3:19).
But what foolishness it would be to carry this
meaning through to 2Ti 2:25: “In meekness instructing those that
oppose themselves”. Not by any stretch of imagination could
‘chastising’ be substituted here.
Another intriguing, and horrifying, example is
Pilate’s repeated: “I will therefore chastise him (Jesus), and let
him go” (Luk 23:16,22). Evidently the governor meant: ‘Just to teach
him a lesson that he is to keep out of trouble, I will set him free after he has
had a beating.’ And what a beating, with the dreaded Roman flagellum
tearing his back to shreds!
Instruments, Weapons, Armour
Hopla is Greek for a piece of
equipment. In the Bible it is used only in the plural for war-equipment, ie
weapons or armour. Complete equipment is indicated in Eph 6:11,13 and Luk 11:22
for all weapons and defensive armour (pan-oplia): “the whole
armour of God”.
In most places hopla is used in a
sense easy to understand. Peter has an eloquent variant of it. Using the verb,
he exhorts: “Arm yourselves with the same mind (as Christ was
equipped with in his sufferings)” (1Pe 4:1), but it is a mental armour:
“the same mind”. Similarly, Paul urges: “Neither yield
ye your members as weapons to fight an unrighteous war for that evil cap-tain
Sin, but yield your members as weapons of righteousness under God’s own
leadership” (Rom 6:13).
In every occurrence the NT use of this figure is
both easy to perceive and vivid. (See also on Warfare.)
