ὑβριστής

From the study of 1 Timothy 1:13

Range of meaning

A person of hybris. Hybris was a heavy word in Greek moral and legal thought: arrogant, wanton treatment of others meant to shame them and show contempt. It often involved physical violence, but its core is degrading someone, not just hurting them. In Athens hybris was a prosecutable offence.

Against the English

KJV 'injurious' (archaic for 'insulting, doing wrong'); WEB 'insolent'; YLT 'insulting'; BSB and NIV 'a violent man'; ESV 'insolent opponent'; NASB 'violent aggressor'. 'Violent' captures the force but loses the humiliation and arrogance. 'Insolent' captures the arrogance but sounds mild to modern ears, like cheekiness.

How it drifted

No single English word covers hybris. 'Insolent' has weakened to 'rude'. 'Violent' leaves out the contempt and shaming that defined the Greek idea.

Used elsewhere in the period

Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.2, 1378b) defines hybris as doing or saying things that shame the victim, purely for the pleasure of feeling superior. In Rom 1:30 hybristai appear in a vice list. The verb describes Paul's own treatment at Philippi (1 Thess 2:2), the abuse Jesus predicted for himself (Luke 18:32), and the treatment of the king's servants in the parable (Matt 22:6). In the LXX the word group often describes the arrogant who trample the lowly.

From the study of Romans 1:30

Range of meaning

The one who commits hybris: wanton, degrading treatment of another person, by word or (often) by violence, meant to shame them and to show one's own superiority. It covers assault, rape, humiliating abuse and contemptuous outrage. In Athens hybris was a criminal offence (the graphē hybreōs). Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.2) defines it as doing and saying things that bring shame on the victim, for the pleasure of feeling superior.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB 'insolent'; YLT 'insulting'; KJV 'despiteful' (in 1611 meaning contemptuous and spiteful). Modern 'insolent' suggests cheekiness toward a superior, a pupil mouthing off to a teacher. Hybris usually runs the other way: the strong abusing and humiliating those beneath them.

How it drifted

The English loanword 'hubris' now means overconfident pride, especially pride before a fall. That meaning comes from modern readings of Greek tragedy. In ordinary Greek of Paul's day the word's centre was abusive, shaming conduct against people.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX uses the hybr- family for the arrogant violence of oppressors (e.g. Prov 16:19; Isa 9:9 LXX for 'pride'). NT: Paul calls his former persecuting self a hybristēs (1 Tim 1:13). Jesus predicts he will be 'treated outrageously' (hybristhēsetai, Luke 18:32). Paul was 'mistreated' at Philippi (hybristhentes, 1 Thess 2:2).