ζήτησις

From the study of 1 Timothy 6:4

Range of meaning

Seeking or investigation; a legal or philosophical inquiry; a debate or disputed question. In context it can mean speculative or controversial questions.

Against the English

KJV/YLT "questions" sounds innocent today, as if asking questions were the problem. "Controversies" (BSB) and "arguments" (WEB) are closer. What is meant is speculative debating points pursued for their own sake.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere in the Pastorals: "foolish and ignorant controversies" (2 Tim 2:23); "foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law" (Titus 3:9). The related word ekzētēseis, "speculations," appears in 1 Tim 1:4 alongside "myths and endless genealogies." In Acts it is used for disputes (Acts 15:2; 25:20).

From the study of 2 Timothy 2:23

Range of meaning

From zēteō, 'to seek.' The word covers (1) a search or investigation, including a court inquiry or a philosopher's line of inquiry; (2) a debated question or point of dispute; and (3) the dispute itself, meaning controversy or debate. In the New Testament it means a dispute almost every time: John 3:25 (a 'discussion' about purification), Acts 15:2 (Paul and Barnabas's sharp 'debate' over circumcision), Acts 25:20 (Festus at a loss how to 'investigate' Jewish questions).

Against the English

KJV 'questions' and WEB/YLT 'questionings' are older English for 'disputed questions,' but a modern reader hears 'asking a question.' BSB/NASB 'speculation(s)' and ESV 'controversies' are closer. NIV/NLT 'arguments' catch the fighting but lose the sense of a pet topic that people dig into.

How it drifted

In 1611 'question' could still mean 'a matter in dispute' (as in 'to call into question' or 'the question before the house'). Today it mostly means a request for information, so 'avoid foolish questions' can sound like a ban on asking.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Pastoral Letters use it as a technical term for the false teachers' activity: 1 Tim 1:4 (myths and endless genealogies 'which promote speculations'), 1 Tim 6:4 (a 'morbid craving for controversies and word-fights,' logomachiai), Titus 3:9 ('avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, strife, and quarrels about the law,' nearly the same wording as here, with μωράς, ζητήσεις and μάχας together). In Greek philosophy zētēsis was a respectable word for inquiry, which may be why the false teachers liked it as a label for their activity. Acts 25:19–20 shows outsiders using it of Jewish legal disputes.

From the study of Titus 3:9

Range of meaning

Seeking or investigation (a legal or philosophical inquiry). Then the matter under investigation, a disputed question. Then the dispute itself, a debate or controversy. In the New Testament: the debate over circumcision (Acts 15:2), Festus's puzzlement over Jewish 'questions' (Acts 25:20), and in the Pastoral letters the morbid craving for 'controversies and word-fights' (1 Tim 6:4; 2 Tim 2:23).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT say 'questions/questionings'. BSB, ESV, NASB and NIV say 'controversies'. In modern English 'questions' sounds like honest inquiry, which is not the point. 'Controversies' is closer, because it names topics that exist to be argued over.

How it drifted

The Latin Vulgate's quaestiones passed into English as 'questions'. In 1611 a 'question' could still mean a disputed point (as in 'the question in debate'). Today it mostly means something one asks to learn.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical and Hellenistic Greek use it for philosophical and judicial inquiry. Philosophers and sophists (paid teachers of rhetoric and argument) were known for set 'questions' debated for display. Acts 25:20 shows a Roman official using it of Jewish religious disputes he could not judge.