8 – What is a lexicon?

Having reviewed the use of some study aids we have not yet thought about a lexicon. If your library already includes expository dictionaries, you may feel that you have enough information at your fingertips when it comes to the meaning of words. What more could you need?

Word book

A lexicon is a book of Hebrew or Greek words, listed alphabetically, together with definitions, just as an English dictionary gives definitions of English words. The real advantage of this for the Bible student is that you can strip away theological or slanted interpretations and get back to the root meaning of a word based on objective scholarly analysis. For example, the recently revised version of Strong’s Concordance (the so-called “Strongest Strong’s”) now contains some material with an evangelical bias; some of the meanings given are interpretations, not straightforward definitions. Compare this “Strongest Strong’s” definition with that found in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. In the process you will get an insight into the information to be found in a lexicon:

• Strongest Strong’s
  3056 logos, n. GK: 3364 [–›3004]. word, spoken or written, often with a focus on the content of a communication (note the many contextual translations in NIV); matter, thing. “The Word” is a title of Christ (Jn 1:1), emphasizing his own deity and communication of who God is and what he is like.

• Grimm-Thayer Lexicon
  3056 logos, logou, ho a collecting, collection (A) As respects speech: [1] a word which, uttered by the living voice, embodies a conception or idea; Heb 12:19; [2] what someone has said; a saying; (a) universally: Matt 19:22; (b) of the sayings of God (i) equivalent to decree, mandate, order: Rom 9:28; (ii) of the moral precepts given by God in the O.T.: Mark 7:13; (iii) equivalent to promise: Heb 4:2; (iv) through prayer in which the language of the O.T. is employed: 1 Tim 4:5; (v) an oracle or utterance by which God discloses, to the prophets or through the prophets, future events: Rev 1:2,9; (vi) what is declared, a thought, declaration, aphorism, Matt 19:11; [3] discourse (a) the act of speaking, speech: Acts 14:12; (b) equivalent to the faculty of speech: Eph 6:19; (c) a kind (or style) of speaking: 1 Cor 1:5; (d) continuous speaking, discourse, Luke 4:32,36; (e) instruction: Col 4:3. [4] in an objective sense, what is communicated by instruction, doctrine: universally, Acts 18:15. [5] anything reported in speech; a narration, narrative: of a written narrative, a continuous account of things done, Acts 1:1. [6] a matter under discussion, a thing spoken of, an affair: Matt 21:24. [7] thing spoken of or talked about; event; deed Mark 1:45. (B) Its use as respects the mind, alone, (1) reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating, Heb 4:12; (2) account, i.e. regard, consideration: Acts 20:24; (3) account, i.e. reckoning, score: Phil 4:15; (4) account, i.e. answer or explanation in reference to judgment: Rom 14:12; (5) relation: Heb 4:13; (6) reason, cause, ground: Acts 10:29. (C) the essential Word of God, i.e., the personal (hypostatic) wisdom and power in union with God, John 1:1,14. [abridged]

Analytical

A few things should be immediately obvious:

1. A lexicon gives much fuller and longer definitions than you will find in a concordance.
2. It gives a carefully structured look at how the Greek word is being used in scripture. It’s not the writer’s view that prevails but the usage by the Spirit that is being analysed.
3. Unless these study aids are linked by Strong’s numbers, you would have to find your way around the Greek or Hebrew alphabets.

The older editions are not so linked, so you need to ask about that when thinking of a second-hand purchase. And if you prefer an electronic version, which will link automatically with the text you are studying, many different Greek and Hebrew lexicons are available.