Greek word · G5377

φιλόθεος

philotheos

God-loving

'God-loving, devout, dear to God / loving God'. A term of real praise in Greek religious and philosophical writing.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

loving God, pious , (Aristotle Philosopher), etc. (ML)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Timothy 3:4

Range of meaning

'God-loving, devout, dear to God / loving God'. A term of real praise in Greek religious and philosophical writing.

Against the English

'Lovers of God' everywhere. It is accurate. The point to notice is how rare and respected the word is: it is the ideal the list measures them against.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here in the NT. Aristotle, Rhetoric 2.17, uses it of the fortunate as tending to be 'god-loving'. Philo uses it frequently for the true worshipper, including the parallel at De Agricultura 88. Later Christians used it as an honorific.

Where it appears

2 Timothy · 1

  1. 2 Timothy 3:4 φιλόθεοι, lovers of God,

    traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

    Here: 'Friends/lovers of God': a respected word for a truly devout person, found in Greek writers and in Philo. It appears only here in the New Testament. It closes the whole list with the love that should have been at the centre, and leads straight into v. 5: these people still look devout.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.