Greek word · G5538
χρηματισμός
chrēmatismos
proclamation
Its basic use is an official transaction or pronouncement. It covers the business of a government office, a ruling, or a public decree. In Jewish and Christian Greek it came to mean a divine response or oracle: an answer given by God.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
χρηματισμός, -οῦ), ὁ
(χρηματίζω, which see), [in LXX: Proverbs 31:1 (מַשָּׂא), 2Ma.2:4 2Mac 11:17 * ;]
a divine response, an oracle: Romans 11:4 (Xen., Plat., al.).†
(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
Its basic use is an official transaction or pronouncement. It covers the business of a government office, a ruling, or a public decree. In Jewish and Christian Greek it came to mean a divine response or oracle: an answer given by God.
- Against the English
KJV has "the answer of God", BSB and YLT "the divine reply/answer", WEB rephrases as "how does God answer him?" All of these are accurate. What they cannot show is that the word sounds formal, like an official ruling, not just a spoken reply.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the papyri, the word and its verb are used for official business and decrees (Moulton–Milligan). 2 Maccabees 2:4 uses it for an oracle that directed Jeremiah. The related verb chrēmatizō is used in the New Testament for divine warnings or revelations (Matthew 2:12, 22; Luke 2:26; Acts 10:22; Hebrews 8:5; 11:7). 1 Clement 17:5 uses the noun for God speaking to Moses.
Similar words
Where it appears
Romans · 1
-
Romans 11:4 χρηματισμός; divine answer?
And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Here: An official pronouncement from God, the kind of answer given from heaven. This is the only place the noun appears in the New Testament. It casts God's words to Elijah as a formal ruling that settles the matter.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.