B. McCausland
Jan 1, 2015
Redefining meanings
It might be significant to observe the different wording translators render for the Greek word ????????, hagiasmos, in the text of Hebrews 12:14 used in this discourse, which reads in the AV as: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness (hagiasmos), without which no man shall see the Lord”. The word hagiasmos literally means holiness, as rendered in the AV, from which the English word hagiography, meaning biographies of the saints, derives its definition in the RC context. However, biblically, the term conveys the state of being holy-like, or separated unto God. The concept relates to the unique attribute of God of being pure by essence, which implies separated unto righteousness. It is rather the effect of the process of sanctification, or the purging and mortifying of sin in man. The rendering for hagiasmos given in the ESV is ‘sanctification’, which can be understood as the procedure by which one becomes holy, not the final target or aimed result. Using such term, the text could be misunderstood for a gospel of works. Such particularity grants the AV translation a better calibre of doctrinal meaning.