βίωσις

From the study of Acts 26:4

Range of meaning

From βιόω, "to live, spend one's life." It means the manner in which life is lived: a person's way of life, conduct and practice. It is a rare, rather literary noun. It carries more than "life" (ζωή, the state of being alive) or "livelihood". It points to observable habits and practice.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and NASB have "manner of life", which is accurate though old-fashioned. BSB and NIV turn it into a clause, "how I have lived" and "the way I have lived", which keeps the sense well. NLT shifts it to the training Paul received, which narrows a word about conduct into one about education.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here in the New Testament, and absent from the Septuagint's main books. The best Jewish parallel is the Greek prologue to Sirach (late 2nd century BC). The translator says his grandfather wrote so that lovers of learning might make progress "through living according to the law" (διὰ τῆς ἐννόμου βιώσεως). There the word describes a life shaped by the Torah, which is exactly the claim Paul makes about himself. It also appears in later Greek writers and inscriptions for a person's way of living.