εὔνοια

From the study of 2 Maccabees 9:26

Range of meaning

Literally 'good-mindedness': goodwill, kindly disposition, favour. In political language it is the normal word for the loyalty of subjects, soldiers or allied cities toward a ruler. It is the attitude that repays euergesia. It covers both feeling (well-disposed) and conduct (supportive, not rebellious).

Against the English

WEB 'good will' is close. KJV/Brenton 'that every man will be still faithful' gets the political loyalty right but uses 'faithful', which modern readers tend to hear as religious faithfulness or pistis. The Greek has neither.

How it drifted

The KJV Apocrypha (1611) chose 'faithful' for political allegiance, a normal sense at the time. Modern church readers mostly know 'faithful' from 'be faithful unto death' and similar lines, so it now carries a religious tone that eunoia lacks.

Used elsewhere in the period

A stock term in Hellenistic royal letters, often paired with euergesia: the king's benefactions call for the subjects' eunoia. In Jewish texts: 1 Macc 11:33 (Demetrius II grants favours to the Jews because of their goodwill toward him); 3 Maccabees uses it repeatedly of Jewish loyalty to the Ptolemies (e.g., 3:3). NT: Eph 6:7, slaves serving 'with goodwill'.

From the study of Ephesians 6:7

Range of meaning

A favourable disposition toward someone: goodwill, kindness, loyalty, devotion. It can be the goodwill of a ruler toward his subjects, of citizens toward a benefactor, of friends toward each other, or of a servant toward the house he serves. It is an inward attitude that shows in conduct, not mere outward compliance.

Against the English

'Good will' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate but sounds mild and vague in modern English, like 'being nice'. NIV's 'wholeheartedly' and NLT's 'enthusiasm' change it into energy or effort. What eunoia names is loyalty, wanting the good of the one served, which is more relational than enthusiasm.

How it drifted

Not real drift. English 'goodwill' has just weakened into a general pleasantness, so the household-loyalty colour of the Greek word gets lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Xenophon's Oeconomicus (12.5–7), Ischomachus says the first thing a steward must be taught is eunoia toward his master and his household, because no skill helps if the servant doesn't wish the master well. Honorific inscriptions all over the Greek world praise benefactors 'for the sake of their virtue and goodwill (eunoia)'. In the Septuagint it appears for political loyalty (e.g. 1 Macc 11:33; 2 Macc 11:19) and in 4 Macc 2:10 for the goodwill of friends. In the NT the word appears only here in the critical text. The Byzantine text also has it at 1 Cor 7:3 (KJV 'due benevolence').