Greek word · G1906
ἐπερώτημα
eperōtēma
pledge
(1) A question put to someone. (2) A request or appeal, from the verb ἐπερωτάω, 'ask, inquire, request', which in the Greek OT is often used for inquiring of God.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament.
What it means
ἐπ-ερώτημα, -τος, τό
[in LXX: Da TH Daniel 4:14 (שְׁאֵלָא), Sirach 33:3 * ;]
1. a question, au inquiry (Hdt., Thuc.).
2. a demand: 1 Peter 3:21 (see ICC, in l).†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of 1 Peter 3:21
- Range of meaning
(1) A question put to someone. (2) A request or appeal, from the verb ἐπερωτάω, 'ask, inquire, request', which in the Greek OT is often used for inquiring of God. (3) In legal papyri and inscriptions of roughly the 2nd century AD, the formal question in a contract ('Do you agree...?') and so the binding answer or pledge given to it.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB 'answer', YLT 'question', ESV/NASB 'appeal', NIV/BSB 'pledge', NLT 'response'. Each picks one part of the range. 'Answer' and 'pledge' look to the contract formula or to a baptismal question-and-response. 'Appeal' looks to the ordinary sense 'request'.
- How it drifted
The KJV's 'answer' reads in the later practice of baptismal questioning ('Do you believe...?' 'I believe'), which is well attested by the 3rd century (Apostolic Tradition 21). Whether that practice already existed when 1 Peter was written is uncertain.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Thucydides 3.53 uses it for 'question'. Theodotion's Greek of Daniel 4:17 uses it for the 'decision' or 'matter' of the watchers. Moulton–Milligan and Selwyn cite papyri and a senatorial decree where the word belongs to the language of formal stipulation. The noun occurs nowhere else in the NT.
Similar words
Where it appears
1 Peter · 1
-
1 Peter 3:21 ἐπερώτημα [the] demand
And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Here: The hardest word in the verse. Its basic sense is 'a question put' or 'a request'. In legal documents of the period it also named the formal question-and-answer that sealed a contract, which gives the sense 'pledge'. It is either an appeal to God or a solemn commitment made to God (see debates).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.