πώρωσις

From the study of Ephesians 4:18

Range of meaning

From pōros, a kind of porous stone (tufa) and the callus that forms over a healing bone. Pōroō meant to petrify, to form a callus, to make hard or dull. Pōrōsis is a hardening, a callus, a loss of sensitivity. In figurative use it means dullness, obtuseness, insensibility.

Against the English

'Hardness/hardening' (BSB, WEB, YLT, ESV, NIV, NASB) is accurate. KJV 'blindness' follows the Latin Vulgate (caecitas) and changes the image from a numbed, calloused organ to an eye that cannot see.

How it drifted

Some ancient interpreters, and the Latin tradition, linked pōrōsis with the similar-sounding pērōsis ('maiming, disablement', often of the eyes), so Latin translations sometimes rendered it 'blindness'. The KJV followed this here and in Romans 11:25. J. Armitage Robinson discussed the confusion at length.

Used elsewhere in the period

Medical writers used it for the formation of a callus on fractured bone. In the NT it appears in Mark 3:5 (of the synagogue onlookers), Romans 11:25 (a partial hardening on Israel) and here. The verb pōroō appears in Mark 6:52, 8:17, John 12:40, Romans 11:7 and 2 Corinthians 3:14. The idea echoes the Hebrew Bible's 'hardening the heart' (Pharaoh; Isa 6:10), though the Septuagint uses other verbs there.

From the study of Romans 11:25

Range of meaning

Literally the forming of a pōros, a stone-like hardness or callus. Greek medical writers use the word family for the callus that forms over a broken bone. Figuratively: dullness, insensitivity, inability to take something in, a heart or mind that no longer responds.

Against the English

BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB and NIV have 'hardening'. KJV has 'blindness', following Tyndale and the Latin Vulgate (caecitas). 'Blindness' fits the context, where 11:8 and 11:10 speak of 'eyes that could not see'. But it changes the picture from something going stiff and numb to the loss of sight.

How it drifted

The Latin 'blindness' may come from the closely related Greek word pērōsis ('maiming, disabling', sometimes 'blindness'), which was easily confused with pōrōsis in manuscripts and by ancient readers. The KJV kept the Latin tradition.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT: Mark 3:5 ('hardness of their hearts'); Eph 4:18 ('the hardening of their hearts'). The verb: Rom 11:7 ('the rest were hardened'); Mark 6:52; 8:17; John 12:40 (quoting Isa 6:10); 2 Cor 3:14 ('their minds were hardened… to this day the same veil remains'). The idea goes back to Isa 6:9–10, Deut 29:4 and Isa 29:10, which Paul quotes in Rom 11:8.

From the study of Mark 3:5

Range of meaning

From pōros, a kind of porous stone, and also the callus that forms over a healed bone fracture. The verb pōroō means 'to petrify' or 'to grow a callus', and figuratively 'to make dull, insensitive, unable to perceive'. The noun describes a hardening that sets in, a process and its result.

Against the English

'Hardness of heart' (KJV, BSB, ESV) suggests to modern ears callousness or cruelty. WEB's 'hardening' keeps the sense of a process. NIV's 'stubborn hearts' brings out the will. Neither choice alone conveys the picture of a mind that has grown over with scar tissue and no longer takes anything in.

How it drifted

In modern English 'hard-hearted' has narrowed to mean 'unkind, unsympathetic'. In biblical usage the 'heart' is mainly where a person thinks and decides, so a 'hardened heart' is first a failure to see and respond, with lack of compassion following from it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek medical writers in the Hippocratic tradition use pōroō/pōrōsis for the callus over a fractured bone. In the New Testament, Mark uses the verb for the disciples' hardened hearts (6:52; 8:17). Paul uses the noun for Israel's partial hardening (Romans 11:25), and Ephesians 4:18 links it with 'darkened understanding' and 'ignorance'. The idea echoes the Old Testament theme of Pharaoh's hardened heart and of Isaiah 6:9–10, which Mark quotes in 4:12.