ὁσιότης

From the study of Ephesians 4:24

Range of meaning

Piety, devoutness, religious faithfulness: rightly keeping what is owed to God or the gods and what is sacredly proper. The related adjective hosios in the Greek Old Testament often translates Hebrew ḥasid, 'faithful, devoted' (a word related to ḥesed, 'steadfast covenant love').

Against the English

'Holiness' (most versions) blurs it with the other Greek holiness family, hagios/hagiasmos, which is about being set apart and consecrated. YLT's 'kindness' follows the Hebrew link to ḥesed but moves too far from the Greek. 'Devoutness' or 'piety' is closer.

How it drifted

English 'holiness' usually means moral purity or separation. That corresponds to hagios, not hosiotēs. The English cannot show that Paul chose the word for devout faithfulness toward God.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun appears in the New Testament only here and in Luke 1:75. Wisdom of Solomon 9:3 has it, as do Deuteronomy 32:4 LXX ('righteous and devout (hosios) is the Lord') and Proverbs 2:8 LXX. Philo and Greek moralists regularly divide virtue into piety/devoutness toward God and justice toward humans.

From the study of Luke 1:75

Range of meaning

The noun comes from hosios: 'what is sanctioned by the gods, religiously right, devout'. Hosiotēs is the quality of piety or devoutness: doing what is owed to God, keeping the right relationship with the divine, faithfulness in religious duty. In Greek ethics it is regularly paired with dikaiosynē (justice), and the two together cover the whole of right living.

Against the English

Every major English version says 'holiness'. English uses that same word for hagiosynē, hagiasmos and hagios, the Greek 'set apart / sacred' words. Luke's hymn actually keeps the two families apart: God's covenant and the prophets are hagios, 'holy' (1:70, 72), while the people's conduct is hosiotēs. 'Piety' or 'devotion' would mark the difference, but those words now sound sentimental or inward in English.

How it drifted

In modern English 'holiness' has come to mean moral perfection, separation from the world, or (in some traditions) a distinct second experience of sanctification. Hosiotēs is plainer and more relational. It means loyal, proper conduct toward God.

Used elsewhere in the period

Plato, Gorgias 507b: doing what is fitting toward people is dikaia, toward the gods hosia. Philo, On Abraham 208: it belongs to the same nature 'to be hosios toward God and dikaios toward people'. Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament): Deuteronomy 9:5, 'not because of your righteousness or the hosiotēs of your heart'; 1 Kings 9:4, walking 'in hosiotēs of heart and uprightness'; Wisdom of Solomon 9:3, ruling the world 'in hosiotēs and dikaiosynē', the same pair as here. In the Septuagint the adjective hosios often translates Hebrew ḥasid, 'loyal, devout one'. New Testament: the noun occurs only here and in Ephesians 4:24 ('righteousness and hosiotēs of the truth'). Compare 1 Thessalonians 2:10, hosiōs kai dikaiōs.