βλάσφημος

From the study of 1 Timothy 1:13

Range of meaning

In ordinary Greek, 'speaking harmfully': slanderous, abusive, defaming. It could be aimed at people (damaging their reputation) or at gods (speaking against what is sacred). As a noun it means a slanderer or reviler. In Jewish and early Christian use it often meant speaking against God or what belongs to God.

Against the English

'Blasphemer' is the standard English rendering (KJV, BSB, WEB). YLT's 'speaking evil' keeps the broader sense. NLT spells it out as blaspheming Christ's name.

How it drifted

In modern English 'blasphemy' has narrowed to irreverent talk about God, or even to swearing and using God's name as a curse. The Greek word is wider: hostile, damaging speech, which here includes reviling Jesus and slandering his people.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Acts 6:11–13 Stephen is accused of 'blasphemous words'. In Acts 26:11 Paul says he 'tried to force them to blaspheme', meaning he pressured believers to curse Jesus. The word appears in vice lists (2 Tim 3:2) and in 2 Pet 2:11. In 1 Tim 1:20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are disciplined 'so that they may learn not to blaspheme'.

From the study of 2 Timothy 3:2

Range of meaning

Speaking to injure: abusive, slanderous, reviling. The target may be a person or God. In Greek generally the word most often concerned harming a human reputation. In Jewish and Christian usage it is often aimed at God, but not always.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'blasphemers' and NLT 'scoffing at God' narrow the word to irreverence toward God. BSB/NIV 'abusive' and NASB 'revilers' keep the wider sense of verbal abuse in general.

How it drifted

In English, 'blaspheme' became a technical religious and legal term meaning only speech against God or sacred things. The Greek word was broader.

Used elsewhere in the period

In 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul calls his former self a blasphēmos, referring to his persecution of believers. In Titus 3:2 believers are told 'to slander (blasphēmein) no one', clearly meaning other people. Greek orators use the noun blasphēmia for personal defamation.

From the study of Acts 6:11

Range of meaning

In ordinary Greek, injurious, defamatory or abusive speech: slander that harms someone's reputation. The target could be a human being (a neighbor, a ruler, a teacher) or a god. When aimed at God it is the serious religious offense of insulting or reviling the deity. The word is about damaging speech, not just a lack of reverence.

Against the English

English 'blasphemy' has narrowed to speech that insults God or sacred things, and casually to 'swearing'. So 'blasphemy against Moses' sounds odd to modern ears, as if Moses were being treated as divine. In Greek it is simply 'slandering, reviling Moses'. YLT's 'evil sayings in regard to Moses and God' keeps the broader sense.

How it drifted

Christian Latin and English took over the Greek word mostly for offenses against God, and over the centuries the human 'slander' sense fell away from the English word (the separate English word 'blame' actually comes from the same Greek root through Old French).

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 24:10–16 makes reviling or cursing the Name a capital crime. Josephus, Jewish War 2.145, uses the same expression (blasphēmein eis, 'to blaspheme into/against') for Moses: among the Essenes, 'after God, the name of the lawgiver is held in greatest reverence, and if anyone blasphemes him he is punished with death.' Philo (Life of Moses 2.203–206) shows how seriously misuse of God's name was treated. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 7:5, compiled c. AD 200) later restricts capital blasphemy to pronouncing the divine Name. Whether that narrow definition already applied in Stephen's day is uncertain, and the Gospels' account of Jesus' trial suggests a broader sense was in play. In the LXX the adjective appears in e.g. Wis 1:6, Sir 3:16, 2 Macc 9:28; 10:36.