Passion; Passions

pash´un, pash´unz: “Passion” is derived from Latin passio, which in turn is derived from the verb patior, with the root, pat. The Latin words are connected with the Greek root, παθ, path, which appears in a large number of derivatives. And in Greek, Latin, and English (with other languages in addition) words connected with this root, pat, path, are often susceptible of a great variety of meanings, for which the dictionaries must be consulted. For “passion,” however, as it appears in English Versions of the Bible, only three of these meanings need be considered. (1) Close to what seems to be the primary force of the root is the meaning “suffer,” and in this sense “passion” is used in Act 1:3, “to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion.” This translation is a paraphrase (Greek: “after he had suffered”), due to the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) (post passionem suam), and in English is as old as Wycliff, whom the subsequent English Versions of the Bible has followed. This is the only case in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) where “passion” has this meaning, and it can be so used in modern English only when referring (as here) to the sufferings of Christ (compare “Passion play”). (2) “Suffering,” when applied to the mind, came to denote the state that is controlled by some emotion, and so “passion” was applied to the emotion itself. This is the meaning of the word in Act 14:15, “men of like passions,” and Jas 5:17, “a man of like passions,” Greek ὁμοιοπαθής, homoiopathḗs; the Revised Version margin “of like nature” gives the meaning exactly: “men with the same emotions as we.” (3) From “emotion” a transition took place to “strong emotion,” and this is the normal force of “passion” in modern English the King James Version does not use this meaning, but in the Revised Version (British and American) “passion” in this sense is the translation of πάθος, páthos, in its three occurrences: Rom 1:26 (the King James Version “affection”); Col 3:5 (the King James Version “inordinate affection”); 1Th 4:5 (the King James Version “lust”). It is used also for two occurrences of πάθημα, páthēma (closely allied to pathos) in Rom 7:5 (the King James Version “motions,” the King James Version margin “passions”) and in Gal 5:24 (the King James Version “affection”). The fixing of the exact force in any of these cases is a delicate problem fully discussed in the commentaries. In Col 3:5 only does “passion” stand as an isolated term. The context here perhaps gives the word a slight sexual reference, but this must not be overstressed; the warning probably includes any violent over-emotion that robs a man of his self-control. See AFFECTION; MOTION.

The word ‘passion’ is used in the NT, both in the singular and in the plural, in senses which are now current only in biblical English.

1. ‘Passion’ in the singular is used of the suffering or death of our Lord in Act_1:3, representing ôὸ ðáèåῖí, which here denotes the Crucifixion (‘after his passion’), and is exactly parallel with Heb_2:9, where ðÜèçìá ôïῦ èáíÜôïõ is rendered ‘the suffering of death.’ On the other hand, ðáèÞìáôá in Heb_2:10 means Christ’s sufferings in a more general sense, as in 2Co_1:5, Php_3:10, 1Pe_4:13; 1Pe_5:1. In his speech before Agrippa St. Paul says that Christ was ‘subject to suffering’ (ðáèçôüò, Act_26:23)-that is to say, in His humanity. That in His Godhead He was impassible but in His humanity passible was insisted on by Ignatius against Docetic error (Eph. vii.: ðñῶôïí ðáèçôὸò êáὶ ôüôå ἀðáèÞò, so Polyc. iii.), and by other Fathers; cf. Apost. Const. II. xxiv. 3, VIII. xii. 33 (ed. Funk). We may compare the nickname ‘Patripassians’ for the Sabellians, the logical outcome of whose doctrine was that the Father suffered. In the Thirty-nine Articles God is said to be ‘without passions,’ or, in the (equally authoritative) Latin, impassibilis (art._ i.).

2. In another sense, ‘passion’ in the NT is a neutral word unless qualified by the context; in Gal_5:24 ‘passions’ (ðáèÞìáôá, AV_ ‘affections’) is qualified by ‘lusts,’ and so the singular ðÜèïò in 1Th_4:5 (RV_ ‘passion of lust,’ AV_ ‘lust of concupiscence’); in Rom_7:5 ‘passions’ (ðáèÞìáôá) is qualified by ‘of sins,’ and the phrase means ‘sinful passions’ (AV_ ‘motions of sins’). Properly, then, ‘passion’ is any feeling, not necessarily strong feeling, just as ἐðéèõìßá, ‘lust,’ is originally a neutral word. The adjective ὀìïéïðáèÞò, ‘of like passions,’ is entirely neutral; it is used in Act_14:15 of Paul and Barnabas, and in Jam_5:17 of Elijah; in 4Ma_12:11 of men; and rather curiously in Wis_7:3 of the earth (AV_ ‘which is of like nature’ [with men], RV_ ‘kindred,’ RVm_ ‘of like qualities’); the meaning seems to be that the earth is mother of all (cf. Sir_40:1).

A. J. Maclean.