εὐσεβῶς

From the study of 2 Timothy 3:12

Range of meaning

Literally 'well-reverencing' (eu, 'well', + sebomai, 'to revere'). In Greek usage eusebeia was the proper respect owed to the gods. It was shown in worship, and it extended to faithful duty toward parents, the dead, one's city and its rulers. It covered conduct as well as feeling: a visible, socially recognized virtue. Its opposite, asebeia, meant impiety or sacrilege, and could be a criminal charge (Socrates was tried for it).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and most modern versions say 'godly' or 'a godly life'. YLT says 'piously'. 'Godly' in modern English tends to suggest private moral strictness or personal devotion. Eusebeia was a public, outward-facing word: reverence for God that shows up as an ordered, dutiful life others can see.

How it drifted

English 'godly' and 'pious' were shaped by centuries of Christian devotional use and came to mean inward or personal religiosity, sometimes with a hint of self-righteousness. The Greek word's public and civic weight dropped out.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is common in Greek inscriptions honoring benefactors and rulers. Roman pietas, its Latin match, was one of the four virtues on Augustus' honorary shield. In the Septuagint eusebeia is rare except in 4 Maccabees, where it is the controlling theme: the 'pious reason' of martyrs who die rather than break God's law. Philo and Josephus use it for proper worship of the one God. In the New Testament the word family is concentrated in the Pastorals (1 Tim 2:2; 3:16; 4:7–8; 6:3–11; 2 Tim 3:5; Titus 1:1; 2:12, which has the same phrase eusebōs zēsōmen, 'that we should live godly').

From the study of Titus 2:12

Range of meaning

Eusebeia: proper reverence and dutiful respect toward the divine, and toward the order the gods guard (parents, city, rulers), shown in worship and conduct. Asebeia: the opposite, impiety, failing to give the divine its due, sacrilege.

Against the English

'Godly' and 'piously' (YLT) are serviceable. But modern 'pious' often suggests showy or sanctimonious religiosity, and 'godly' can sound like a vague niceness. The Greek word means reverence for God put into practice: a life that is visibly correctly related to God.

How it drifted

'Pious' picked up a negative sense ('pious fraud', 'holier-than-thou') in modern English.

Used elsewhere in the period

A central civic virtue in the Greek world: Plato's Euthyphro is a whole dialogue on piety, and honorary inscriptions praise people for eusebeia toward the gods. Philo and Josephus often pair eusebeia (toward God) with dikaiosynē (toward people) as the two summary virtues, e.g. Philo, Special Laws 2.63. LXX 4 Maccabees uses eusebeia for faithful Jewish devotion. The Pastoral letters use the word group about 13 times (1 Tim 2:2; 3:16; 4:7–8; 6:3, 6, 11; Titus 1:1). It is almost absent from Paul's other letters.