Greek word · G5379
φιλονεικία
philoneikia
love of dispute
A compound of philo- ('fond of') and neikos ('strife, quarrel'). In older classical Greek it could occasionally mean healthy emulation. In moral writing of the Hellenistic and Roman periods it is mostly a vice.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
φιλονεικία, -ας, ἡ
(φιλόνεικος), [in LXX: 2Ma.4:4, 4Ma.1:26 4Mac 8:26 * ;]
love of strife, rivalry, emulation (Plat., al.), but mostly in bad sense (Thuc., al.), contentiousness, contention: Luke 22:24 (but see Field, Notes, 75 f.).†
(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
A compound of philo- ('fond of') and neikos ('strife, quarrel'). Ancient writers also connected it, and often spelled it the same way, with nikē ('victory'), so the word was heard both as 'love of quarrelling' and as 'love of winning.' Its range runs from rivalry and competitiveness to contentiousness and wanting to come out on top. In older classical Greek it could occasionally mean healthy emulation. In moral writing of the Hellenistic and Roman periods it is mostly a vice.
- Against the English
KJV 'strife,' YLT 'strife,' and BSB/WEB/NIV/ESV/NASB 'dispute' all name the quarrel. None of them conveys the motive the Greek builds into the word, which is the appetite for winning.
- How it drifted
No drift in the English word itself. 'Dispute' is just thinner than the Greek, because modern English often uses it for a disagreement over facts or terms, while the Greek points to an ego contest.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament and related books), 4 Maccabees 1:26 lists philoneikia among the vices of the soul, alongside boastfulness, love of glory and envy. 4 Maccabees 8:26 uses it for stubborn contentiousness, and 2 Maccabees 4:4 uses it for the rivalry between factions in Jerusalem. Plato (Republic 548c) links love of victory with love of honour as the passions of the honour-driven man. The word is common in Plutarch and Josephus for political and personal rivalry. The related adjective philoneikos ('contentious') appears in 1 Corinthians 11:16.
Similar words
Where it appears
Luke · 1
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Luke 22:24 φιλονεικία a dispute
A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them should be considered the greatest.
Here: Literally 'fondness for strife' or 'love of victory.' The word names the competitive drive behind the argument, not just the fact that people disagreed. It appears only here in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.