Greek word · G5358
φιλάγαθος
philagathos
lover of good
'Fond of the good.' The object can be good things, good actions, or good people. In inscriptions from the Greek world it was an honorary title for citizens who served or funded the community generously, and so carried a sense of active public goodness.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
φιλ-άγαθος, -ον
[in LXX: Wisdom of Solomon 7:22 * ;]
loving that which is good, loving goodness: Titus 1:8 (Arist., Polyb., a l.).†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'Fond of the good.' The object can be good things, good actions, or good people. In inscriptions from the Greek world it was an honorary title for citizens who served or funded the community generously, and so carried a sense of active public goodness.
- Against the English
KJV and YLT 'a lover of good men' choose the personal sense. BSB, WEB and ESV 'a lover of good', and NIV/NASB 'loves what is good', choose the general sense. The Greek adjective does not say which. 'Good' here is goodness in general, not 'good people' only.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Aristotle (Magna Moralia 2.14) uses it for the good man's love of goodness. Wisdom of Solomon 7:22 lists philagathon among the qualities of divine Wisdom. Philo uses it too, and it is common in honorary decrees (see the Moulton-Milligan papyri vocabulary and BDAG). Its opposite, aphilagathos ('not loving the good'), appears in the list of last-days vices in 2 Timothy 3:3.
Where it appears
Titus · 1
-
Titus 1:8 φιλάγαθον, a lover of good,
Instead, he must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
Here: Someone devoted to goodness, whether good things, good deeds, or good people (the Greek allows all of these). In Greek civic inscriptions the word praised public benefactors. This is its only use in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.