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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Living
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1. Outside of the Gospels ‘living’ does not occur as a noun in the Authorized Version of the NT, but is found three times in the Revised Version , viz. in 1Pe_1:15, 2Pe_3:11, where it denotes the manner of life (Authorized Version ‘conversation,’ Gr. ἀíáóôñïöÞ ), and in Rev_18:17, where ‘gain their living (i.e. means of life) by sea’ represents the Authorized Version ‘trade by sea,’ the Revised Version margin ‘work the sea,’ Gr. ôὴí èÜëáóóáí ἐñãÜæïíôáé .
2. ‘Living’ as a verb is found in both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version of Col_2:20, ‘living in the world,’ where the Gr. is æῶíôåò ; and Tit_3:3, ‘living in malice’ (Gr. äéÜãïíôåò ).
3. The adj. ‘living’ (Gr. æῶí ) occurs frequently and is used with various shades of meaning.-(1) In the ordinary sense of being alive in contrast with dead (Rom_12:1; Rom_14:9, Revised Version of Rev_1:18). In Act_10:42, 2Ti_4:1, 1Pe_4:5 both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version translate æῶíôåò by ‘quick.’ In the ‘living soul’ of 1Co_15:45 and Rev_16:3 the word has the same meaning; in the latter passage, however, the literal rendering of the Gr. is ‘soul of life’ (Revised Version margin).-(2) The ‘living creatures’ (Revised Version ; Authorized Version ‘beasts’; Gr. æῷá , being the Septuagint equivalent of çַéåֹú in Eze_1:5, etc.) of Rev_4:6; Rev_4:8, etc., are so called as being not alive merely, but instinct with life and activity (cf. Eze_1:14).-(3) With an intensified force the word is used of God, who is called ‘the living God’ (Act_14:15, Rom_9:26, 2Co_3:3; 2Co_6:16, 1Th_1:9, 1Ti_3:15; 1Ti_4:10; 1Ti_6:17 [Authorized Version ], Heb_3:12; Heb_9:14; Heb_10:31; Heb_12:22, Rev_7:2) not only as being self-existent, but as possessing the fullness of life in absolute perfection.-(4) Figuratively, the expression is applied to the oracles given by God to Moses (Act_7:38, Authorized Version ‘lively’); to the word of God generally (Heb_4:12, Authorized Version ‘quick’); to the way into the holy place which Jesus dedicated for us (Heb_10:20); to the hope unto which God has begotten us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1Pe_1:3, Authorized Version ‘lively’); to the Stone rejected of men but with God elect, precious (1Pe_2:4), and the stones built up on that foundation into a spiritual house (1Pe_2:5, Authorized Version ‘lively’); to the fountains of waters to which the Lamb shall lead His people (Rev_7:17 TR [Note: Textus Receptus, Received Text.] and Authorized Version ; Revised Version ‘fountains of waters of life’). The precise force of ‘living’ in each of these cases is determined by the word to which it is attached and the context in which it is set. The word of God is living because, being God’s, it is instinct with His own life; the way into the holy place because it is real and efficacious, as contrasted with the mere ceremony of entrance into the earthly sanctuary; the Christian hope because it is the result of a Divine begetting, and is therefore lasting and certain of fruition as human hopes are not; the heavenly fountains because they are ever ‘springing up unto eternal life’ (cf. Joh_4:10; Joh_4:14). The elect Stone and the stones built upon it are living stones because the persons whom they metaphorically represent are living persons-the One alive with the very life of God, the others sharing in that life through their union with Him.
J. C. Lambert.