BIBLE WORD OF THE WEEK

 

APHORIZO - Strongs G873 - Verb - Perfect Passive - Nominative Singular Masculine

Perfect Passive means this word describes an action that was done in the past (perfect), and it's an action that is done to someone (passive).  Whenever something is done TO us, we are in the category of "passive", while the one doing the action is in the category of "active".  So, God is the one doing the action and we are the recipients of that action.

In Paul's salutation in the book of Romans he says, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God".

"Set apart" in the Greek is APHORIZO.  The definition of this word is to appoint, set apart for some purpose.

So, by definition and using the Greek grammatical rules, Paul was set apart IN THE PAST (perfect) and this action was done TO him (passive).

When we read his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 1 verse 4, we read that God chose us in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world.  

Who did the choosing?  God!

When did this take place?  Before the foundation of the world.

The word "eklegomai" is the Greek word used for "He chose" in Ephesians 1:4 and this word is what's called an Aorist Middle Indicative.  Greek grammar rules state that the middle voice means the subject of the sentence (in this case, God) is the one who is the agent of the action.  In other words, God does the action of choosing, not the one who is the recipient.

One thing we need to be aware and mindful of is that the Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek languages.  Our English grammatical rules DO NOT apply to Scripture.  We must learn what the original language says and apply their grammatical rules, because in many cases, there are no English grammatical rules that even come close to those in the original language.  This is why there's so much misinterpretation.  The English Bible scholars had to come up with English words and phrases that closely match what is being said in the original languages and even then, it doesn't quite bring in the correct interpretation of Scripture.