The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1968

in th Gre k N w Testament by Dr. George Lancor ''SOUND WORDS'' 111 11 "l ~i111. I : 11 there is the in– f ltCli re )fti \)f Pat1l's t1rgc11l in1- l'Cr~llt~'c t) 11lll)th\ that i111 th t14lll k~cr1 h ld1r1g fa t a patt rn f .. . t... tinti \\ )rtis.·· \,hich in1 th heard fr 111 Patil hin1self. Reaching bey nd in1oth}. thi i a charge t all true . er, ant .. f hri t, an e1ninent direc– ti n. n t ad i ry r di cretionary in natur . but pr en1ptory - a divine in1perati\e - to hold fast,, under all circum tance and without ,any di– gre i n, the ame pattern of ound \ rd . The vital ignificance of this charge and of our obedience to it is to be een a never before in the e crucial days of ecumenical apo tasy, when on every hand there i departure fr m sound doctrine and a resultant moral defection. ' 'Hale and Hearty'' The expre ion " ound words" i the Greek hugiainonton logon, and the word " ound" (hugiainonton) is of particular interest and essential im– portance. It means: ' healthy, whole– some hale and hearty" - hence its connotation of " ound." The word appears frequently in early Greek writings and in the papyri. In a pri– vate letter to a friend, dated 2 A.D., a man say "I want you to know that I am in good health" (hitgiaino). An earlier papyru letter of about 3 B.C., hows the tatement of a contractor who writes to a man from whom he obtain material , and admoni hes him to end "all the sound bricks ' ( hugieis) . There is the record of a man who engaged in the hire of a mill, and reported that he found the mill "safe and uninjured" ( hugiei). In another letter a man writes with re– gard to the purcha e of certain ma– terials: "I received everything safely" ( hz,giei). A certain civil official, on entering office swears that he will discharge his service "faithfully and honestly" (hugios). A lady write to an acquaintance with whom he experienced a disagreement, and says ' 'You are not in your right sense·s" (hugiaineis). A man sends a message to a source from which he h as pur– chased certain items, but evidently has experienced some trouble with breakage, for be ays thi time he 12 SEPTEMBER, 1968 ,, at1ls ' ' H·/,,,/, 1 ,vi11c- j<tl'., .. ( /111 i.:1,·,) Ct't'lai n ttignilary ,vl1ll C\l)l'C('\ Ill l1c at,"~'lll ltllll\ l1i s 1c,1(.lt•ncc 1()1 \\)Ille ltt11c. atl\t\C'\ l11'i caretak 'r l(l 'iCC tl1at 0 a ll cl"c ,., ri.~l,rlv ,J,,11<' ctt1ring the l1111111c1'' (/111 .~i<>tts). Iler d ltt<; n1cn– ttt111" l1i~ ··1,ealtl1v ~late of 111intl' ' • (/111,t:ic·1s), and en t)l1on writes in de- tail concerni ng the natLtrc fa "l,ealtlzy C()t1 ntr ·• (l111Riei11os). H n1er rcferc; tt) the 11ccd f r "~vise, 1vl10/eso111e, c111<l s,,, , ,,,I word. ,, ( l1i1Rieis) and Ari to– te le de. ire. that hi. friend "ge t ~veil'' .l111~il1tlz<>). The Ore k god(ie s o( he,tlth wa. nan1ecl "H1, .c:iec1". ' 'Good Health'' The eptuagint ha the word in en. 29: l -6 which record Jacob's arrival at Haran and hi inquiry as to Laban' lhealth: "And he aid unto them, I he (Laban) well?" (vs. 6, hi,giai11ei). The term appears again in Gen. 43 :27, 28, in t,he recorded conver ation between Jo eph and his brother . Jo eph asks (vs. 27), ' 'Is your father well?'' (hugiainei). In vs. 28 the an wer of the brother is: "Thy servant our father is in good health. . ." (hugiainei). And in II amuel 20: 9, Joab asks Amasa, "Art thou in goocl health, my brother?" c hugiaineis). It is this word which Luke uses to describe the healing of the man with the withered hand . Luke 6: 10 records the address of the Lord to the man: "Stretch out thy band.' ' and then marks what took place: "And he did so: and his hand wa re- tored whole (hugieis) as the other." Mark has the same word in his refer– ence to the event (3: 1-5). The Lord said in reply to the question of the Pharisees as to why He ate and drank with publicans and sinners: ''They , , , f I I (II' C' l-\1 I,<>/<' ( I,< Ji,, , I .s.: i <IiI 1 <JI I I ( 1 ,\ ncc{l tl(ll a 11hy\ 1L1an..." (l .ukc 5·1 1 ' I' f1 " c I(I cr ~ on• c <) 111 i n g i n I' r l) n 1 t t tic l(I , hcarc.l lh' n isc of th' n ccplion being given to h1~ IJroclig lJrothcr, anti a<,kctl a sc1va11t what n1canl. 1 he c;crv,tnt rcplie(l ( I..,u~ 15 :27) that rhc younger brother ha con1c hon1e "sci/e fJntl sn1111cl" ( l111 !fiai, 011ta). The Apostle John adclrec;~cs h Third .,pi~tlc lo aiuc;, and say ~'Beloved, I wi~h a.bovc a ll thingc; th1 thot1 n1aye t prosper and be i11 /1ea/1 (l1i,giait1ein) ... (11[ John 2). This is the ~ame word which tti Holy pirit constrained Paul to u~ in hi s urgent charge in 11 Tim. 1: I · "Hold fa t the pattern of sound wort ( hugiai1zo1 ton) . . . Timothy, an all true ervants of the Lord, mu l adhere trictly and faithfully to wore that are good, healthy, sound, true words that are wholesome, free f ro1 all admixture of error, and thus edif) ing; words that are not diseased c infected with any untruth or here ~ word that are sincere, purt mea ured, considered carefully befor they are poken, containing nothin confusing or misleading. Upon th base of correct expression and exeges of the truth of the Christian f ai t depends the healthfulness and whole sameness of the life and testimon of our people. To Titus Paul write (2: 1) , "But you keep speaking th things that are becoming to soun ( hugiainousei) doctrine," which bind every true servant of Christ to teac and speak to the people of God on] . those things that are fit, proper, wholt some, and becoming to healthy doc trine, so that believers shall grace thi healthy, becoming doctrine with (Continued on Page 15) THE CLEVELAND HEBREW MISSION P. 0 . Box 18056 Cleveland, Ohio 44118 Founded 1904 FUNDAMENTAL - BAPTISTIC - EVANGELISTIC E,,anoelizino the "1~ins-nien" of our Lord in Cleveland, Ohio O b ao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil OFFICERS:- Mr. George B. Dunn, President Dr. Ralph H . Stoll, Vice President Rev. Gerald V. Smelser, Superintendent Rev. A. Paul Tidball, Asst. S,u,pt. Miss Linda F. Imhof, Sec'y-Treas. REFERE CES:- Dr. John G. Balyo, Cleveland, Ohio Rev. Paul Van Gorder, Atlanta, Ga. Rev. Vaughn Sprunger, South Bend, Ind. Rev. Lloyd Morris, Flint, Mich. Dr. Robert Ketcham, Chicago, Ill. Rev. Joel Kettenring, St. Paul, Minn. Rev. Melvin V. Efa~,, Huntington, W. Va. Dr. Frank C. Torrey, Boca Raton, Fla. Write for your FREE copy of " The Trumpeter for Tsrael" our quarterly maga:rine devoted to the work of Jewish evangelism. THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIS1