Greek word · G3504
νεόφυτος
neophytos
new convert
Literally "newly planted" (neo-, "new," + phyton, "plant"). Its first use is in farming, for young shoots, saplings, or a field or vineyard just planted. As a figure of speech it can mean a newcomer.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
νεό-φυτος, -ον
(νέος, φύω) [in LXX: Job 14:9, Psalms 144:12, Isaiah 5:7 (נֶטַע), Psalms 128:3 (שְׁתִל)* ;]
newly planted (LXX). Metaphorical, as subst., ὁ ν., a new convert, neophyte, novice: 1 Timothy 3:6†
(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 Timothy 3:6
- Range of meaning
Literally "newly planted" (neo-, "new," + phyton, "plant"). Its first use is in farming, for young shoots, saplings, or a field or vineyard just planted. As a figure of speech it can mean a newcomer. This verse is the only time it appears in the New Testament, and the earliest surviving use of it for a new member of a religious community.
- Against the English
KJV has "novice" and modern versions have "recent/new convert." "Recent convert" gets the meaning right but loses the planting picture. "Novice" now suggests someone inexperienced at a skill, or the trainee stage of a monastic order, and neither is quite the point.
- How it drifted
The Latin Vulgate simply borrowed the word as neophytus, which gave English "neophyte." Over time it came to mean any beginner and lost the sense of a new member of the faith. "Novice" (KJV) picked up a monastic meaning in the Middle Ages, when novices were people in trial membership before taking vows.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, or LXX) the word is used for plants: Psalm 127:3 LXX (128:3), "your sons like young olive shoots"; Psalm 143:12 LXX (144:12); Job 14:9; and Isaiah 5:7, where Judah is God's "beloved new planting" in the vineyard song. Papyri use it of land just planted (Moulton–Milligan). Paul uses planting language for founding churches elsewhere: "I planted, Apollos watered" (1 Cor 3:6–8). Later church writers use "neophytes" for the newly baptized.
Where it appears
1 Timothy · 1
-
1 Timothy 3:6 νεόφυτον, a novice,
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.
Here: Literally "newly planted," a farming word for a young shoot or a fresh planting. Here it means someone only recently brought into the faith community. The point is how long they have been a believer, not how old they are.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.