From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Thu Jun 25 1998 - 14:52:16 EDT
I was just looking at the verb LATREUW, and trying to determine whether it
could be used only of God. A few things make me think that it is not used
exclusively for God. I found a footnote in Louw & Nida about secular usage
of the term:
"In general Greek usage, *leitourgew* and *leitourgia* denote service
performed by an individual, free of charge, on behalf of the state. This
meaning is not found in the NT."
It seems that both PROSKUNEW and LATREUW have both religious and secular
uses. I am not sure that *any* of the terms we are examining here, in Greek
or in English, are exclusively used of God. As a matter of fact, I'm trying
to think if *any* word that could only be used of God - even words like
"omnipotent" may be used hyperbolically of people like Bill Gates.
There are, of course, things that the New Testament *should* be only for
God, but that's different, and the two issues should not be confused. And
it is quite possible that the sense of the word is different when used for
God, that non-religious uses are rare, or whatever.
Jonathan
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