—REVIEW—
It is most important to keep in mind that the disfellowshipping offenses that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians chapters 5 and 6 are expressed as substantives and not as verbs. Verbs show what people do while nouns show what people are. This means that Christians should not be disfellowshipped because of their actions but because of their personality.
Being a loidoros (a reviler, curser) means to be a person who is permeated by the strong negative feeling that leads to the actions of reviling or cursing other persons. This is something that he or she continues to do, something that is part of his or her personality.
Paul discusses disfellowshipping offenses in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10:
9 What! Do YOU not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, 10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom.
We note that the disfellowshipping offenses are nouns and not verbs. Verbs show what persons do while nouns show what people are. All the disfellowshipping offenses are agent nouns (nomen agentis), and Victionary defines “agent noun” in the following way:
(grammar) A noun that denotes an agent (human or nonhuman) that performs the action denoted by the verb from which the noun is derived, such as “rider” derived from “to ride, or “cutter” derived from “to cut”.
Some agent nouns are: “creator, counselor, dancer, gambler, jailer, preacher, swindler, teacher, editor,” and these show the occupation or the characteristics of the persons. Greek agent nouns are alieus (“fisherman”) that comes from the verb alieuō (“to fish”) and hiereus (“priest”) that comes from the verb hierateuō (“to serve as a priest”).
In order to illustrate the meaning of the agent nouns that are disfellowshipping offenses, I use pornē which is the feminine form of pornos. All the Greek-English lexicons show that this word refers to a prostitute, a woman who has unlawful sexual intercourse as her occupation. This is confirmed in 1. Corinthians 6:15, where NWT13 translates pornē as “prostitute.” In a similar way, a pornos is not a man who has unlawful sexual intercourse one, two, or five times. But a pornos is a person whose life is centered around having unlawful sexual intercourse, a person who is permeated by these actions.
A kleptēs is not a person who has been stealing one, two, or five times. But John 12:6 says that Judas was a thief because “he used to steal money put in it [the contribution box].” A methysos is not a person who has been drunk one, two, or five times, but a methysos is a person who practices drunkenness, a drunkard.
The word that I am focusing on in this study is loidoros with the meaning “reviler, curser.” The question is what this Greek word means.
Under the heading “Apostasy,” the book “Shepherd The flock Of God” 12.29 says regarding Reviling:
Reviling: (1 Cor. 6:10; it-2 pp. 801-802; lvs p. 164) Reviling involves subjecting a person to insulting speech, heaping abuse upon him. The body of elders should weigh the circumstances and extent of wrongdoing so as to determine whether a judicial committee should be formed. Elders should not be quick to take judicial action; a judicial committee would be formed only if the reviling is extreme, disrupts the peace of the congregation, and persists despite repeated counsel.
The word loidoros occurs only two times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, in 1 Corinthians 5:11 and 6:10. So, we cannot learn its meaning from the context. However, the cognate noun loidoria occurs three times, and the verb loidoreō occurs four times. This can help us pinpoint the exact meaning of loidoros. Before I study these Greek words, I will look at the Greek Septuagint version.
THE USE OF LOIDOROS AND COGNATE WORDS IN THE SEPTUAGINT
The writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used the Septuagint translation extensively, and the three times loidoros occur in the Septuagint will help us to differentiate between the meaning “reviler” and “slanderer,” both meanings having been applied to loidoros in the Watchtower literature. Proverbs 25:24 (NWT13) says:
24 Better to dwell on a corner of the roof than in the same house as a quarrelsome (loidoros) wife.
The footnote to “quarrelsome” in NWT13 says: “Or ‘nagging’,” and NWT84 uses the word “contentious,” which refers to one who “causes a lot of disagreement and arguments.”[1] The Hebrew word used is mādōn (“dissention, quarrel, strife, contention”), and the corresponding Greek word in the Septuagint is loidoros. In the two following scriptures, the Hebrew word is also mādōn and the Greek word is loidoros.
Proverbs 26:21 (above) and 27:15 (below) say:
21 As charcoal for the embers and wood for the fire. So a contentious (loidoros) man kindles a quarrel.
15 A quarrelsome (loidoros) wife is like a constantly leaking roof on a rainy day.
The definition of “slander” is: “the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another’s reputation; a false and defamatory oral statement about a person.”[2] The definition of “reviling” is “to subject to verbal abuse.”[3] It is clear that loidoros in the Septuagint does not refer to slander but to verbal abuse that causes strife. The verb loidoreō occurs eight times in the Septuagint, and the meaning is “to quarrel, revile.” This is seen in the account of Meribah in Numbers 20:13:
13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled (loidoreō) with Jehovah.
The substantive loidorēsis has the meaning “insulting,” and we read in Exodus 17:7:
7 So he named the place Massah and Meribah (loidorēsis) because of the quarreling (loidoria) of the Isrealites and because they put Jehovah to the test.
The Hebrew word is rīb (“strife, dispute”), and the word massā means “trial, test,” and the word merībā means “quarreling, strife, rebellion.” For merībā the Septuagint uses loidorēsis and “quarreling” is translated from loidoria. The word loidoria means “insult, cursing, reviling,” and it is used four times in the Septuagint, as in Proverbs 20:3:
3 It is honorable for a man to refrain for a dispute (loidoria). But every fool will become embroiled in it.
The Hebrew word is rīb (“strife dispute”) and the NIV uses “strife” instead of “dispute.”
The common denominator for the word group loidoros, loidoreō, loidoresis, and loidoria in the Septuagint is “quarrel, strife, dispute, contention, reviling, rebellion,” and there is nothing that relates to “slander.”
| Loidoros and cognate words in the Septuagint have the meaning “quarrel, strife, dispute, contention, reviling, rebellion” and never the meaning “slander.” |
[1]. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/contentious.
[2]. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slander.
[3] . https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revile.
THE USE OF LOIDOROS AND COGNATE WORDS IN THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES
The verb loidoreō (“to revile”) occurs four times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and we read in John 9:28, Acts 23:4, 1 Corinthians 4:12, and 1 Peter 2:23 (in descending order):
28 At this they scornfully (loidoreō) told him: “You are a disciple of that man, but we are disciples of Moses.”
4 Those standing by said: “Are you insulting (loidoreō) the high priest of God?”
12 When insulted (loidoreō), we bless; when persecuted, we patiently endure.
23 When was being insulted (loidoreō), he did not insult in return (antiloidoreō).
The NWT84 uses the word “revile” whereas NWT13 has “insult” and “scornfully.” The NIV has “hurled insults” in John 9:28, “insult” in Acts 23:4, “cursed” in 1 Corinthians 4:12, and “hurled insults” in 1 Peter 2:23. The rendering “cursed” in 1 Corinthians 4:12 is particularly appropriate because of the antonym “bless.”
The word loidoria (“insult, cursing, reviling”) occurs three times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and we read in 1 Timothy 5:14 (above), and 2 Peter 3:9 (below):
14 Therefore, I desire the younger widows to marry to bear children, to manage a household, to give no opportunity to the opposer to criticize (loidoria).
9 Do not pay back injury for injury or insult (loidoria) for insult (loidoria). Instead, repay with a blessing.
The NWT84 has “revile” instead of “criticize” in 1 Timothy 5:14 and “reviling” in 1 Peter 3:9.
The common denominator of the word group loidoros, loidoreō, and loidoria in the Christian Greek Scriptures seems to be “revile,” “abuse” or “curse.” The renderings “insult” and “criticize” in the NWT13 seem to be too weak. This is particularly seen in the light of being a loidoros represents a disfellowshipping offense. A person will not be disfellowshipped for doing or saying something that is rude or offensive, which is the meaning of insulting someone. And a person will not be disfellowshipped for criticizing someone. But a person who continually curses or reviles and is permeated by these negative characteristics should be disfellowshipped. As we have seen of the use in the Septuagint, the concept “slander” is nonexistent in connection with this word group.
| Loidoros and cognate words in the Christian Greek Scriptures have the meaning “revile, abuse, curse,” and never the meaning “slander.” |
THE COMMENTS ON “REVILING” IN THE SHEPHERD BOOK
I quote the comments on “reviling” in the Shepherd book one time more:
Reviling: (1 Cor. 6:10; it-2 pp. 801-802; lvs p. 164) Reviling involves subjecting a person to insulting speech, heaping abuse upon him. The body of elders should weigh the circumstances and extent of wrongdoing so as to determine whether a judicial committee should be formed. Elders should not be quick to take judicial action; a judicial committee would be formed only if the reviling is extreme, disrupts the peace of the congregation, and persists despite repeated counsel.
These comments are helpful because they stress that being disfellowshipped for reviling should only occur in extreme situations, when the reviling has occurred over a long time and the person refuses to stop. But it would have been more helpful for the elders if it was pointed out that the word loidoros (“reviler”) is a nomen agentis, which shows the personality of the person—he or she is permeated by reviling or cursing.
The conclusion is that a person who is permeated by reviling or cursing must be disfellowshipped from the Christian congregation (1 Corinthians 5:11; 6:10). But slander, that the book for elders list as a disfellowshipping offense, is not a disfellowshipping offense—a word with the meaning “slander” does not occur in the Christian Greek Scriptures.
CONCLUSION
I have stressed in all the discussions of the disfellowshipping offenses that are mentioned in the Bible, that a person must be disfellowshipped on the basis of his or her personality and not on the basis of one or more wrong actions.
In connection with the Greek word loidoros, a person whose personality is to revile or curse other persons, and this is something that he or she continues to do, must be disfellowshipped from the congregation.
For a thorough discussion of the difference between the actions of a person and the characteristics of the person, between what a person does and what he is, see the article “The nature of the disfellowshipping offenses in 1 Corinthians chapters 5 and 6.”
