ἰσότης

From the study of 2 Corinthians 8:14

Range of meaning

Equality, sameness of measure. Also fairness or equity: what is fair and balanced between parties. In Greek thought it could mean exact equality or proportional fairness, where each gets what fits their situation.

Against the English

Most versions say 'equality' (KJV, BSB, NASB, WEB, YLT). ESV uses 'fairness' (and 'as a matter of fairness' in v13). NIV makes it a goal ('The goal is equality'). NLT says 'things will be equal'. 'Equality' is accurate, but to modern ears it can sound like identical incomes or a political programme. 'Fairness' catches the sense of balance but loses how strong a word isotēs was.

How it drifted

Since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 'equality' has carried political meanings: equal rights, and in economic debate equal outcomes enforced by the state. Paul's word comes from the ideals of friendship and civic justice, applied to a voluntary gift between churches (8:8, 'I am not commanding you'; 9:7, 'not under compulsion').

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT it appears only here, in 8:13, and in Colossians 4:1, where masters are told to give slaves 'what is just and fair (isotēta)'. Aristotle's ethics treats friendship as a kind of equality, and a Greek proverb said 'friendship is equality' (Nicomachean Ethics 8.5, 1157b). Another said 'friends hold things in common'. Philo, the first-century Jewish thinker in Alexandria, wrote a long praise of isotēs as the mother of justice (Who Is the Heir 141–206). There (§191) he quotes the same manna verse, Exodus 16:18, that Paul quotes in the next verse. This shows that Jews of the time already linked the manna story to equality.

From the study of Colossians 4:1

Range of meaning

Equality, equal share, balance; and from that, fairness or equity (treating people even-handedly). In Greek political thought it was a major civic value, the equality of citizens. In moral writing it is closely tied to justice.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "equal." BSB and NIV: "fair." NASB: "fairness." ESV: "fairly." "Fair" is the safer reading in context, but it hides the fact that the word is literally "equality," the same word Paul uses in 2 Cor 8:13–14 for a balance between churches.

How it drifted

Not drift so much as an open question. The modern ideal of equal rights for all should not be read straight in, but "fair" alone may say less than the Greek.

Used elsewhere in the period

Paul uses it in 2 Cor 8:13–14 ("that there may be equality"). Philo calls isotēs "the mother of justice" (Special Laws 4.231). Philo also reports that the Essenes kept no slaves and condemned slave-owners as unjust because they "corrupt equality" (isotēs) and violate nature (Every Good Man Is Free 79). That passage links injustice, isotēs and slavery directly. BDAG puts Col 4:1 under the sense "fairness."