ὀψώνιον

From the study of Romans 6:23

Range of meaning

Built from opson (cooked food, relish, especially fish) and ōneomai (to buy). It first meant money for buying provisions. In the biblical period it meant a ration-allowance and pay, especially a soldier's pay, and more broadly the wages or allowance of hired workers and officials. It is nearly always plural.

Against the English

English 'wages' suggests a contract between employer and employee: a salary earned by your own work. The Greek word often pointed to a soldier's pay or a regular allowance from whoever commanded you. The idea of 'what you get for serving' is right. The office-payroll picture is a little off.

How it drifted

Not a serious drift, because 'wages' is a fair gloss. The modern word just loses the soldier and slave setting of Romans 6:12–22, where people 'present their members as weapons' (6:13) and are slaves of one master or the other (6:16–22).

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint: 1 Maccabees 3:28 (Antiochus 'gave a year's pay [opsōnia] to his forces') and 14:32 (Simon paid his soldiers' opsōnia); 1 Esdras 4:56. Polybius uses it for soldiers' pay. In the New Testament: Luke 3:14, where John tells soldiers 'be content with your opsōnia'; 1 Corinthians 9:7, 'who serves as a soldier at his own opsōnia?'; 2 Corinthians 11:8. The papyri also use it for allowances and wages of civilian workers (Moulton & Milligan). The Latin Vulgate translates it stipendia, the regular word for Roman military pay.

From the study of 1 Corinthians 9:7

Range of meaning

The word comes from opson ('cooked food, relish,' the part of a meal eaten with bread) and ōneomai ('to buy'), so it first meant money for buying food. In Hellenistic Greek it became:

• the standard term for a soldier's ration-allowance or pay, often in the plural;
• more generally, an allowance, stipend or wage paid to officials, workers or slaves, in cash or in kind.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'charges'; BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB have 'expense.' Both get the point across: the soldier does not pay for his own keep. They do lose the word's close link to food. Paul's examples go from rations, to grapes, to milk, all of them things to eat, and that thread runs into v. 4 ('Have we not the right to eat and drink?').

Used elsewhere in the period

Polybius, the 2nd-century BC historian, uses it often for soldiers' pay and provisions. Papyri use it for allowances paid to soldiers and workers. 1 Maccabees 3:28 and 14:32 use it for pay given to troops. Elsewhere in the NT it means soldiers' pay (Luke 3:14, 'be content with your wages'), support Paul accepted from other churches (2 Corinthians 11:8), and, in a soldier picture, 'the wages of sin' (Romans 6:23). C. C. Caragounis argued that the core sense is 'provisions/ration-allowance' rather than a negotiated wage.

From the study of Luke 3:14

Range of meaning

From opson, the cooked food or relish (often fish) eaten with bread, and ōneomai, "buy". It first meant money for provisions. It became the standard word for soldiers' pay and rations, and then for wages or allowances more generally.

Against the English

"Wages" (KJV, BSB, WEB) or "pay" are fine. The original shade is a soldier's pay-and-provisions allowance, not a worker's earnings bargained in a market.

Used elsewhere in the period

Polybius uses it for soldiers' pay. 1 Macc 3:28 and 14:32 use it of military pay. Paul writes "who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense [opsōniois]?" (1 Cor 9:7), "I took pay [opsōnion] from other churches" (2 Cor 11:8), and "the wages [opsōnia] of sin is death" (Rom 6:23), where the soldier's-pay image is likely. The papyri use it widely for allowances and salaries.