Strictly taken, is right worship or devotion; but in general it imports the whole of practical religion, 1Ti 4:8. 2Pe 1:6. It is difficult, as Saurin observes, to include an adequate idea of it in what is called a definition. "It supposes knowledge, veneration, affection, dependence, submission, gratitude, and obedience; or it may be reduced to these four ideas; knowledge in the mind, by which it is distinguished from the visions of the superstitious; rectitude in the conscience, that distinguishes it from hypocrisy; sacrifice in the life, or renunciation of the world, by which it is distinguished from the unmeaning obedience of him who goes as a happy constitution leads him; and, lastly, zeal in the heart, which differs from the languishing emotions of the lukewarm." The advantages of this disposition, are honour, peace, safety, usefulness, support in death, and prospect of glory; or, as the apostle sums up all in a few words, "It is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, " 1Ti 4:8. Saurin’s Serm. vol. 5: ser. 3. Eng. trans.; Barrow’s Works, vol. 1: p. 9.; Scott’s Christian Life: Scougall’s Life of God in the Soul of Man.
strictly taken, in right worship or devotion, but in general it imports the whole of practical religion (1Ti 4:8; 2Pe 1:6). It is difficulte, as Saurin observes, to include an adequate idea of it in what is called a definition. "It supposes knowledge, veneration, affection, dependence, submission, gratitude, and obedience; or it may be reduced to these four ideas: knowledge in the mind, by which it is distinguished from the visions of the superstitious; rectitude in the conscience, that distinguishes it from hypocrisy; sacrifice in the life, or renunciation of the world, by which it is distinguished from the unmeaning obedience of him who goes as a happy constitutions leads him; and, lastly, zeal in the heart, which differs from the languishing emotions of the lukewarm." The advantages of this disposition are honor, peace, safety, usefulness, support in death, and prospect of glory; or, as the apostle sums up all in a few words, "It is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1Ti 4:8). In 1Ti 3:16, it means the substance of revealed religion as furnished in the various particulars enumerated. — Barrow, Works, 1:9; Scott, Christ. Life; Scougal, Life of God in the Soul of Man; Saurin, Sermons, Engl. trans. 5, serm. 3.
1.
2.
Godliness With Contentment
1Ti_6:6.
The Godly
Psa_4:3; 2Ti_3:12; 2Pe_1:1-11; 2Pe_2:9.
What Godliness Is Profitable Unto
1Ti_4:8.
By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., Emil G. Hirsch
The quality of being godly, i.e., godlike, manifested in character and conduct expressive of the conscious recognition and realization of man's divine origin and destiny, and in the discharge of the duties therein involved. Regarding man as fashioned in the likeness of God (Gen. i. 26, 27), Judaism predicates of every man the possibility, and ascribes to him the faculty, of realizing godliness. According to its anthropology, this faculty was never vitiated or weakened in man by original sin.
In the Authorized Version "godly" corresponds to the Hebrew "ḥasid" (Ps. iv. 3, xii. 2 [A. V. 1]); but the term 'ẓaddiḳ" (righteous; Ps. i. 5, 6) equally connotes the idea. The characteristics of the godly may best be derived from the fuller account given of their antonyms. The ungodly ("resha'im"; Ps. i. 1, 5) are described as men compassed about with pride, clothed in violence, speaking loftily and corruptly, denying God's knowledge, prospering by corruption in this world, and wrongfully increasing their riches (Ps. lxxiii.). They are those that make not God their strength (ib. lii. 7). Godliness is thus also the antithesis to the conduct and character of the wicked ("mere'im"), the workers of iniquity ("po'ale owen"; ib. lxiv.), "who whet their tongue like a sword"; who encourage themselves to do evil, denying that God will see them.
The godly, by contrast, is he whose delight is in the Torah of Yhwh (ib. i. 2), or who, to use Micah's phrase, does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God (Micah vi. 8). The godly may be said to be actuated by the desire to learn of Yhwh's way, to walk in His truth, and to keep his heart in singleness of purpose to fear His name (Ps. lxxxvi. 11). "To walk in God's ways" (Deut. xiii. 5; "halok aḥare middotaw shel ha-ḳadosh baruk hu": Soṭah 14a) is the definition of "godliness," with the explanation that man shall imitate God's attributes as enumerated in Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7a (comp. Yalḳ., Deut. 873). As God is merciful, man also should bemerciful; and so with respect to all other characteristics of godliness.
Charity the Essence.
According to the Rabbis, the beginning and the conclusion of the Torah relate deeds of divine benevolence. God clothed the naked; He comforted the mourners; He buried the dead (Soṭah 14a; B. Ḳ. 99a; B. M. 30b based on Mek., Yitro, 2 [ed. Weiss, 68a; ed. Friedmann, 59b]; comp. the second "berakah" in the Shemoneh 'Esreh). Godliness thus involves a like disposition and readiness on the part of man to come to the relief of all that are in distress and to be a doer of personal kindness to his fellow men ("gomel ḥasadim"; comp. Ned. 39b, 40a). Thus, whatever is involved in "gemilut ḥasadim" (see Charity) is characteristic of godliness. Matt. xxv. 31 et seq. is an enumeration of the implications of Jewish godliness, the context ("then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory"; ib. xxv. 31) indicating that this catalogue was derived from a genuinely Jewish source (comp. Midr. Teh. to Ps. cxviii. 20, ed. Buber, p. 486). Jewish godliness also inculcates modesty and delicate consideration of the feelings of one's fellow man. According to Eleazar ben Pedat, "to do justly" (Micah vi. 8) refers to judgments rendered by judges; "to love mercy [love]," to the doing of acts of love ("gemilut ḥasadim"); "to walk humbly," to quiet, unostentatious participation in burying the dead and the providing of dowries for poor girls about to be married. "If," he continues, "for the prescribed acts the Torah insists on secrecy and unostentatiousness, how much more in the case of acts which of themselves suggest the propriety of secrecy" (Suk. 49b; Mak. 24b). He who is charitable without ostentation is greater than Moses (B. B. 9b). Greater is he that induces others to do kindly deeds than one that thoughtlessly or improperly performs them himself (B. B. 9a). He who does justly and loves mercy fills as it were the whole world with divine love (Ps. xxxiii. 5; Suk. 49b). Jewish godliness is not an "opus operatum," as is so often held by non-Jewish theologians. Charity without love is unavailing ("en ẓedaḳah meshallemet ela lefi ḥesed she-bah"; Suk. 49b). It comprises more than accurate justice, insistence being laid on "exceeding" justice (Mek., Yitro, 2, cited above).
Consideration for Others' Feelings.
Godliness also comprehends the sense of dependence upon divine grace and of gratitude for the opportunity to do good. "Prayer is greater than good works" (Ber. 32b). The question why God, if He loves the poor, does not Himself provide for them, is answered by declaring it to be God's intention to permit man to acquire the higher life (B. B. 10a). Jewish godliness is careful not to put another to shame (Ḥag. 5a, on public boastful charity); God's consideration for the repentant sinner (Hosea xiv. 2) is commended to man for imitation (Pesiḳ. 163b). He who gloats over the shame of his fellow man is excluded from the world to come (Gen. R. i.). "Better be burned alive than put a fellow man to shame" (Soṭah 10b).
It is ungodly to remind the repentant sinner of his former evil ways; as is it to remind the descendant of non-Jews of his ancestors (B. M. 58b). There is therefore no forgiveness for him who puts another to shame or who calls him by an offensive name (B. M. 58b). Godliness includes the forgiving disposition (Prov. xvii. 9; Ab. i. 12, v. 14; R. H. 17a). To be beloved of God presupposes to be beloved of men (Ab. iii. 13). Slander and godliness are incompatible (Pes. 118a). Pride and godliness are absolute contraries (Prov. vi. 16-19; Ta'an. 7a; Soṭah 4b, 5a, b; 'Ab. Zarah 20b: humility is the greatest virtue). To be among the persecuted rather than among the persecutors is characteristic of the godly (Giṭ. 36b). "God says, 'Be like unto me. As I requite good for evil, so do thou render good for evil'" (Ex. R. xxvi.; comp. Gen. R. xxvi.).
This word appears in the English Version of the NT as the translation of the Gr. åὐóÝâåéá (1Ti_2:2; 1Ti_3:16; 1Ti_4:7-8, 2Ti_3:5, Tit_1:1, 2Pe_1:3; 2Pe_1:6-7; 2Pe_3:11, also Act_3:12 Revised Version ). In 1Ti_2:10 it translates èåïóÝâåéá. Cf. also 2 Clem. xix. 1 (åὐóÝâåéá), xx. 4. (èåïóÝâåéá). ‘åὐóÝâåéá is a more general word than èåïóÝâåéá, and is almost equivalent to the Latin pietas, due esteem of superiors, whether human or Divine, while èåïóÝâåéá is restricted to God as its object. However, in the NT åὐóÝâåéá always has reference to God’ (J. H. Bernard, The Pastoral Epistles [Camb. Greek Test., 1899], p. 39f.).
It will be seen from the above references that the word åὐóÝâåéá (èåïóÝâåéá) is particularly characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles, H. J. Holtzmann speaks of the idea represented by it as one of the most individual ideas of these letters, and points out that its appearance in them (cf. also åὐóåâῶò æῆí [2Ti_3:12, Tit_2:12]) is connected with the recession of the one-sidedly religious interest of the great Pauline Epistles (Gal., Romans , 1 and 2 Cor.), and the coming to the front of an ethical conception of the business of life (see his NT Theol. 2, Tübingen, 1911, ii. 306). In the original Paulinism the supreme stress lies on the religious relation to God, and the central idea is that of justification by faith; while the ethical note is struck only in the second place, and in connexion with the peculiar Pauline mysticism. The Christian united to Christ in His Death and Resurrection is a new man, and must accordingly live as such. In the Pastoral Epistles, however, it is justification by faith and the specifically religious relation to God which are in the background; while the ethical demand of Christianity comes to the front in connexion with a fresh idea-that of adhesion to the Church, its doctrine and practice. It is just this latter point of view as a whole which is summed up in the word åὐóÝâåéá. ‘It is above all significant of the tendency of our epistles, that this conception serves to gather up in one both of these hues, in which the entire thought and effort of the author moves, viz. the ecclesiastical and the practical character of the type of religion recommended by him (Holtzmann, loc, cit.). On the one hand, therefore, godliness, as adhesion to the Church, appears as guaranteeing true doctrine (the teaching which is according to godliness [1Ti_3:16], the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness [1Ti_1:1], the mystery of godliness [1Ti_3:16]; cf. Ap. Const. iii. 5: êáôç÷åῖóèáé ôὰ ôῆò åὐóåâåßáò äüãìáôá). On the other hand, godliness evidences itself in good works and a life without reproach (1Ti_2:2; 1Ti_4:7). It is in fact because of the practical and ethical character of Christianity that its doctrine in opposition to the heretical speculations of Gnosis is sound speech (Tit_2:8), sound teaching (1Ti_6:3, 2Ti_1:13, Tit_1:9; Tit_2:1), sound words (1Ti_1:10, 2Ti_4:3); cf. ‘to be sound in the faith’ (Tit_1:13; Tit_2:2). On all this see Holtzmann, op. cit.
Holtzmann, of course, dues not accept the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. Bernard, who does, says that the group of words connected with åὐóÝâåéá was within St. Paul’s sphere of knowledge, as they are all found in the Septuagint and are common in Greek literature; as a matter of fact, too, St. Paul uses the corresponding forms ἀóÝâåéá and ἀóåâÞò in Romans. ‘But why he should not have used them before and yet should use them so often in these latest letters is among the unsolved problems of the phraseology of the Pastorals, although corresponding literary phenomena have been often observed’ (op. cit. p. 39), The problem created by the use of these words is, however, only a part of the larger problem of the whole change in thought and atmosphere which has taken place between the ‘Hauptbriefe’ and the Pastoral Epistles (see the writer’s Man, Sin, and Salvation, London, 1908, pp. 137-140).
In conclusion, it may be observed, and it has a bearing on the question of the authorship of the Pastorals, that the idea of ‘godliness’ serves to hind these letters together with the certainly late and unauthentic 2 Peter , 2 Clement. In 2 Pet., moreover, åὐóÝâåéá serves to denote, just as in the Pastorals, the religion of the Church, in opposition to that of a heretical Gnosis (1:16; 2:1f.).
Robert S. Franks.