πάθος

From the study of Colossians 3:5

Range of meaning

At its root, "something that happens to one, an experience, suffering" (from πάσχω, "to suffer"). In moral philosophy it meant an emotion that overpowers reason. In Paul it is passion that has taken over, especially sexual passion.

Against the English

KJV's "inordinate affection" now sounds like excessive fondness. BSB and NIV "lust" point the right way but are narrower. ESV, YLT "passion" and WEB "depraved passion" are closer.

How it drifted

In 1611 "affection" meant any strong feeling or emotion, and "inordinate" meant "out of order." Since then "affection" has softened to mean tenderness.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Stoics listed four basic pathē (distress, fear, desire, pleasure) and taught that the wise person should be free of them (Diogenes Laertius 7.110–116). Paul's other uses: Rom 1:26, "degrading passions"; 1 Thess 4:5, "not in the passion of desire like the gentiles who do not know God," where it also sits in a passage about sexual holiness.

From the study of Romans 1:26

Range of meaning

Pathos: something one undergoes or suffers. In ethics it meant an emotion or passion that overpowers reason. Atimia: dishonor, disgrace, loss of standing, the opposite of timē (honor).

Against the English

KJV 'vile affections'; WEB 'vile passions'; YLT 'dishonourable affections'; BSB/ESV 'dishonorable passions'; NASB 'degrading passions'; NIV 'shameful lusts'. 'Vile' is harsher and more about disgust than the Greek, which is about honor and shame. 'Affections' in modern English means fondness, which is far from the 1611 sense.

How it drifted

In 1611 'affection' could mean any passion or strong feeling. Today it means tenderness, so the KJV can mislead modern readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Stoic and other moral philosophy, pathē were disordered impulses that the wise person masters. Paul uses pathos in 1 Thessalonians 4:5 ('in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God') and Colossians 3:5. For atimia compare 1 Corinthians 11:14 ('it is a dishonor to him').

From the study of 1 Thessalonians 4:5

Range of meaning

From πάσχω (paschō), 'to undergo, to experience, to suffer'. Basic sense: what happens to someone, something they experience. From there it came to mean (1) an experience or misfortune; (2) an emotion or feeling, especially a strong one; (3) in moral philosophy, a 'passion': an irrational, excessive surge of feeling that disturbs the mind and overrides reason. In the NT it occurs only three times, always negatively and always about sexual matters: Rom 1:26 (πάθη ἀτιμίας, 'dishonourable passions'), Col 3:5 (in a list with sexual immorality, impurity and evil desire), and here.

Against the English

English 'passion' now usually sounds positive: enthusiasm, zeal, romantic intensity ('follow your passion'). Older English kept the sense of suffering (the 'Passion' of Christ). The Greek here is neither. It is the state of being overmastered, of being moved instead of choosing. BSB/NASB 'lustful passion' and NIV 'passionate lust' merge the two nouns. That reads smoothly but loses the idea of passivity in pathos.

How it drifted

The modern English word turned positive through Romantic-era praise of strong feeling, and later through popular psychology and the language of careers ('passion for the job'). The Greek philosophical sense, a disturbance to be mastered, has mostly dropped out of everyday English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Stoic writers made pathos a technical term for a disordered impulse. Diogenes Laertius (7.110–114) reports the Stoic list of four chief passions: pleasure, distress, desire (ἐπιθυμία) and fear. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 4, discusses the same scheme in Latin (perturbationes). Hellenistic Jewish writers adopted this vocabulary: 4 Maccabees is built around 'pious reason' mastering the πάθη, and Philo often speaks of the passions that must be subdued. Pagan readers in Thessalonica would have known the ideal of self-mastery (ἐγκράτεια, σωφροσύνη) from popular moralists.