Idiot
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
The word translated ignorant is idiotes and is not the normal Greek word agnoeo meaning ignorant or unlearned[1] but is the Greek word idiōtēs [ἰδιώτης].[2] The English word “idiot” comes from the Latin the idiōta which came to mean an ignorant person. But in the Greek idiōtēs as used here in Acts meant a private "person not involved in public affairs".
Even the word translated unlearned in this text is not the Greek agnoeo nor amathes which can mean ignorant but it is the word agrammatoi which only appears once in the Bible and “should not be rendered ‘unlearned'”.
This word agrammatoi is rare in Greek text. Its meaning may depend on the period and use in context. I have found it describing the muster rolls of a battalion or a registry of members kept by scribes.
Verse 14 of John 7 Jesus appears in the temple and begins teaching with an impressive knowledge of the scriptures (γράμματα grammata)[3] but had not studied (memathēkōs)[4].
Jesus had taught in the synagogues and all over but the use of the term memathēkōs [4] seem to suggest an "increase in one’s knowledge". He seems to be overwhelmiring them with knowledge they cannot refute and information they were not prepared to argue against or may not have heard before or even may have forgotten.
In verses 13 of Acts 4 the translators tell us that "agrammatoi and idiotai" means they were "unlearned and ignorant men" but Markus Bockmuehl[5] of the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College writes "The words agrammatoi and idiotai should not be rendered ‘unlearned and ignorant’, as in the King James Version (and ASV).”[6]
In The Cambridge Companion to Jesus[7] he also writes "they had been with Jesus" which would mean they had been put out already of the registry for the Corban of the Pharisees and their network of synagogues according to John 9.
Markus Bockmuehl went on to explain, "To be agrammatos is to lack scribal training (so LSJ), and is in fact the opposite of the grammateus. To be agrammatos does not necessarily mean to be unable to read. To be an idiotes is to be one outside of the guild, or outside of the group, as in 1 Cor 14.16, 23 and 24, where Paul refers to the ‘outsider’ (so RSV) or ‘ungifted’ (so NASB) as an idiotes."
"Jesus tells his followers that they have been given the secret or mystery of the kingdom, but to ‘outsiders’ everything comes in parables, in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven’. For those who reject the call and
Phylos is clear that Jews taught thèir children to read and Josephus even writes: ‘Above all we pride ourselves on the education of our children [paidotrophian], and regard as the most essential task in life the observance of our laws and of the pious practices, based thereupon, which we have inherited’ (Ag. Ap. 1.60). He says later: ‘[The Law] orders that [children] shall be taught to read [grammata paideuein]. . .’ (Ag. Ap. 2.204).
Further reading: Are Christians Idiots?
See more Forbidden Definitions
Footnotes
- ↑ agnoew agnoeo meaning to be ignorant, not to know {Ac 13:27 17:23 Ro 10:3 2Pe 2:12;1Co 14:38; Mr 9:32 Lu 9:45; Heb 5:2}
- ↑ from idios meaning as 'pertaining to one's self, one's own, belonging to one's self'.
"Etymology. Idiot as a word derived from the Greek idiotes, idiotes (person lacking professional skill', 'a private citizen', 'individual'), from idios, idios ('private', 'one's own')." Wikipedia - ↑ 1121 γράμμα gramma [gram’-mah] from 1125 grapho to write; n n; TDNT-1:761,128; [{See TDNT 164 }] AV-letter 9, bill 2, writing 1, learning 1, scripture 1, written + 1722 1; 15
- 1) a letter
- 2) any writing, a document or record
- 2a) a note of hand, bill, bond, account, written acknowledgement of a debt
- 2b) a letter, an epistle
- 2c) the sacred writings (of the OT)
- 3) letters, i.e. learning
- 3a) of sacred learning
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 3129 ~μανθάνω~ manthano \@man-than’-o\@ prolongation from a primary verb, another form of which, matheo, is used as an alternate in certain tenses; TDNT-4:390,552; {See TDNT 464} v AV-learn 24, understand 1; 25
- 1) to learn, be appraised
- 1a) to increase one’s knowledge, to be increased in knowledge
- 1b) to hear, be informed
- 1c) to learn by use and practice
- 1c1) to be in the habit of, accustomed to
- 1) to learn, be appraised
- ↑ Markus Bockmuehl is the Author of Revelation and mystery in ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity (1990), This Jesus: martyr, Lord, Messiah (1994), The Epistle to the Philippians (1997), and Jewish law in Gentile churches: halakhah and the beginning of Christian public ethics (2000). And of course the The Cambridge Companion to Jesus
- ↑ In Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence Craig A. Evans also writes, "The words agrammatoi and idiotai should not be rendered ‘unlearned and ignorant’, as in the King James Version..."
- ↑ [1 ed.] 0521796784, 9780521796781
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