ἐξεγείρω

From the study of 1 Corinthians 6:14

Range of meaning

ἐγείρω: to wake someone from sleep, to make someone get up, to raise up (a building, a leader, a person from sickness), and in Jewish and Christian use to raise the dead. ἐξεγείρω, the compound with ἐκ ("out"), means to rouse or wake up, or to stir up or bring onto the scene. In the New Testament it appears only here and in Romans 9:17, where it quotes Exodus 9:16 about God "raising up" Pharaoh.

Against the English

English "raise" is accurate. The trouble is what modern readers attach to it. Many hear a general "life after death" or the soul going to heaven. The Greek verb is physical and concrete: someone lying down is made to stand up. The English versions vary a little: "raise up" (KJV, WEB) keeps the picture, while "raise from the dead" (BSB, NIV) supplies the meaning outright. The Greek does not say "from the dead" here, but that meaning is clear.

How it drifted

The English verb has not drifted. What has blurred is the idea of resurrection, which popular piety has merged with the soul surviving death.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), ἐξεγείρω is used for waking from sleep and for God rousing people to act. Daniel 12:2 (Theodotion's Greek) uses the simple ἐξεγερθήσονται for "many of those who sleep in the dust… will awake". In Paul, the simple ἐγείρω is his standard resurrection verb, used about 19 times in 1 Corinthians 15 alone. 2 Corinthians 4:14 gives the closest parallel: "he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus".

From the study of Romans 9:17

Range of meaning

To wake someone from sleep, to rouse or stir up, to raise up or bring onto the scene, and (with God acting) to raise the dead. In the prophets' language, God 'raising up' a ruler or nation means bringing them onto history's stage to do a role he has assigned.

Against the English

'Raised you up' is a fair rendering. But modern ears may hear 'brought you up from childhood', 'resurrected you', or 'created you'. WEB's 'caused you to be raised up' and NLT's 'appointed you' each pick out one side of it. The Hebrew behind it means 'I caused you to stand' / 'I let you remain standing'.

How it drifted

English 'raise up' is now mostly used of raising children or Christian resurrection language, so the Old Testament sense of God setting a figure in place in history is less familiar.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT it appears only here and in 1 Cor 6:14 (God 'will raise us up', meaning resurrection). The Greek Old Testament uses it for God stirring up historical agents: 'I am raising up the Chaldeans' (Hab 1:6), 'I am raising up a shepherd' (Zech 11:16). The Hebrew of Exodus 9:16 has he'emadtikha, from 'amad ('stand'), in the causative form: 'I made you stand / kept you standing' (HALOT). The Greek Old Testament reads diatērēthēs, 'you were preserved'. The Latin Vulgate has excitavi te, 'I roused you'.