Pathos
The Greek word páthos[1] means "experience, misfortune, emotion, condition,” and comes from Greek path-, meaning “experience, undergo, suffer.” In English, pathos usually refers to the element in an experience or in an artistic work that makes us feel compassion, pity, or sympathy.
The power of emotion can be overwhelmingly compelling even when it runs up against our sense of logic or reason. Pathos is a term used to describe an appeal to emotion in persuasive rhetoric or other forms of writing. Understanding what pathos is and how to employ it effectively is an essential
The words pathos, ethos, and logos are used in rhetoric as the concept of the three artistic proofs or modes of persuasion. understanding these terms which appear in the Bible may be useful in understanding scripture.
Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile <819> affections <3806>: for even their women did change the natural <5446> use into that which is against nature <5449>:
Colossians 3:5 Mortify <3499> therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication <4202>, uncleanness <167>, inordinate affection <3806>, evil <2556> concupiscence <1939>, and covetousness <4124>, which is idolatry <1495>:
1 Thessalonians 4:5 Not in the lust <3806> of concupiscence <1939>, even as the Gentiles <1484> which know <1492> not God:
- ↑ 3806 πάθος pathos [path’-os] from the alternate of 3958; n n; TDNT-5:926,798; [{See TDNT 606 }] AV-inordinate affection 1, affection 1, lust 1; 3
- 1) whatever befalls one, whether it be sad or joyous
- 1a) spec. a calamity, mishap, evil, affliction
- 2) a feeling which the mind suffers
- 2a) an affliction of the mind, emotion, passion
- 2b) passionate deed
- 2c) used by the Greeks in either a good or bad sense
- 2d) in the NT in a bad sense, depraved passion, vile passions
- For Synonyms see entry 5845 & 5906
- See logos
- 1) whatever befalls one, whether it be sad or joyous