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Text Sermons : Greek Word Studies : Add (2023) epichoregeo

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Supply (2023) (epichoregeo from epi = upon + choregeo = supply) means to furnish upon. To furnish besides or in addition. To supply further. To add more unto. Epichoregeo then conveys the thought of a generous and lavish provision - give lavishly, give generously.

A DIVINE
"DANCE"

The root verb choregeo gives us our English word choreography which is defined as the sequence of steps and movements in dance, the arrangement of movements that the audience sees on the stage (Beloved of the Father [1Th 1:4-note], ponder that thought a moment - Upon what stage is "the choreography" of our life now visible?) Picture your spiritual life a divinely choreographed production -- God has "written" the music and words and movements of the production even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-note). As followers of Christ (1Jn 2:6) however we must diligently seek to fulfill the parts He has prepared for each of us to carry out in this grand choreography called the Christian life so that the Author of the play receives great honor and glory (Mt 5:16-note). How are your "dance steps" dear brother or sister in Christ?

Epichoregeo is used 5 times in the NT in the NASB...

2 Corinthians 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

Galatians 3:5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Comment: The truth about the Spirit revealed in Paul's question begs the question each of us should ask ourselves -- Is God niggardly (stingy, grudgingly mean) in His supply of His Spirit? How often we fail to live up to the potential He has provided. It's not like the New Agers say "Human Potential" as much as it is "Spirit potential"!

Colossians 2:19-note and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

2 Peter 1:11-note for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

A DIVINE
"FORMULA"

Comment: Do we not see a "divine formula" in Peter's two uses of epichoregeo? As we seek diligently to supply abundantly in this life, we shall reap an abundant supply in the life to come! How much more motivation do we need to seek diligently, zealously to grow in godliness in this one short life we are each allotted? (See God's Word on the brevity of this present life - May God's Spirit help you to slowly ponder the gravity of these passages in light of eternity! - Job 7:6, 7 9:25, 26 14:1, 2 Ps 37:2 39:5, 6 Ps 90:4-5, 6, 9, 10 Ps 102:3, 11, Ps 103:15,16 Ps 144:4 Isa 38:12,13 40:6,7 Jas 1:10, 11 4:14 1Pe 1:24 2Ki 19:26 and then go forth, continually seeking to "Redeem the time!" Ephesians 5:16-note) (See John Piper's online PDF book - Don't Waste Your Life!)
There is another interesting use of epichoregeo in the non-canonical apocryphal book Sirach...

The man is a slave, in disgrace and shame, when a wife supports her husband. (Sirach 25:21)

Epichoregeo is derived from choregós the name of the wealthy patron who would lavishly pay the wages for singers in his chorus, as well as pay the expenses of grand productions that were put on in cooperation with a poet and the state. The practice in Greece was for the state to establish a chorus but a choirmaster (choregus = director) paid the expenses for training and was responsible for supplying everything needed for choir.

Wuest adds that epichoregeo was...
derived from chorus, a chorus, such as was employed in the representation of Greek tragedies. The verb originally meant ‘to bear the expense of a chorus,’ which was done by a person selected by the state, who was obliged to defray all the expense of training and maintenance.” Strachan adds, “It was a duty that prompted to lavishness in execution. Hence choregeo came to mean ‘supplying costs for any purpose,’ a public duty or religious service, with a tending, as here, towards the meaning, ‘providing more than is barely demanded.’ ” Thus, the word means “to supply in copious measure, to provide beyond the need, to supply more than generously.”"(Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)

Epichoregeo came to mean generous, costly cooperation. It never meant to equip sparingly, but to supply lavishly for a noble performance. Here the word describes the kind of generosity believers must have in giving of their own effort and in their cooperation with God in appropriating the characteristics mentioned below.

Barclay gives us his version of the historical background of the verb epichoregeo, writing that...
epichoregeo "is one of the many Greek words which have a pictorial background. The verb epichoregein comes from the noun choregos, which literally means the leader of a chorus. Perhaps the greatest gift that Greece, and especially Athens, gave to the world was the great works of men like Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, which are still among its most cherished possessions.

All these plays needed large choruses and were, therefore, very expensive to produce. In the great days of Athens there were public-spirited citizens who voluntarily took on the duty, at their own expense, of collecting, maintaining, training and equipping such choruses. It was at the great religious festivals that these plays were produced. For instance, at the city of Dionysia there were produced three tragedies, five comedies and five dithyrambs (a passionate choral hymn in honour of Dionysus). Men had to be found to provide the choruses for them all, a duty which could cost as much as 3,000 drachmae (Ed: A drachma was a Greek coin made of silver, roughly equivalent to the Roman denarius, and one denarius was approximately one day's wage, which makes 3000 drachmae equate with a relatively large sum of money, so large that only a very wealthy person could provide...which is an interesting thought when we look at the use in Peter. Certainly all who are in Christ now have access to "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col 2:3-note), and have abundant spiritual riches accessible for the "production" of abundant life and godliness as Peter explained in 2Pe 1:3,4-note).

The men who undertook these duties out of their own pocket and out of love for their city were called choregoi, and choregein was the verb used for undertaking such a duty. The word has a certain lavishness in it. It never means to equip in any cheese-paring and miserly way; it means lavishly to pour out everything that is necessary for a noble performance.

Epichoregein (Ed: note the prefix preposition epi which means "upon") went out into a larger world and it grew to mean not only to equip a chorus but to be responsible for any kind of equipment. It can mean to equip an army with all necessary provisions it can mean to equip the soul with all the necessary virtues for life. But always at the back of it there is this idea of a lavish generosity in the equipment. So Peter urges his people to equip their lives with every virtue; and that equipment must not be simply a necessary minimum, but lavish and generous. The very word is an incitement to be content with nothing less than the loveliest and the most splendid life." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press or Logos) (Bolding added)

Supply is in the aorist imperative which is a peremptory command to carry out this "abundant furnishing" with a sense of urgency. Do this now and do not delay! What Peter is commanding by using the aorist imperative is that spiritual growth demands that we make a choice, and that such growth will not come automatically or inevitably. We are to fully supply all that is needed to make the "production" (the virtues in 2Pe 1:5-7) a "success" so to speak. And what God requires of us, God's grace provides for us (copiously, abundantly, amazingly). In other words every divine commandment is based on divine enablement (the indwelling Holy Spirit's empowerment).

Hiebert explains that...

The original imagery (of epichoregeo) was that of a rich patron lavishly supplying every need for the training and staging of a grand chorus for some public celebration. This idea has faded, but the concept of a generous cooperative activity (Ed: Believers "cooperating" with the Spirit!) remains. “The Christian must engage in this sort of cooperation with God in the production of a Christian life which is a credit to Him.”

Michael Green writes that

the Christian must engage in this sort of co-operation with God in the production of a Christian life which is a credit to Him. (Green, M: The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude, TNTC, page 67, 1968).

The point is that believers have been granted abundant resources that are adequate to produce life and godliness and should use them with haste and zeal that we might grow in grace. Clearly spiritual growth calls for strenuous involvement of the believer.

Wiersbe helps us understand the picture writing...
Where there is life, there must be growth. The new birth is not the end. It is the beginning. God gives His children all that they need to live godly lives, but His children must apply themselves and be diligent to use the “means of grace” He has provided. Spiritual growth is not automatic. It requires cooperation with God and the application of spiritual diligence and discipline.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God Who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (see notes Philippians 2:12; 2:13).

Peter listed seven characteristics of the godly life, but we must not think of them as seven beads on a string or even seven stages of development. The word translated “add” really means “to supply generously.” In other words, we develop one quality as we exercise another quality. These graces relate to each other the way the branch relates to the trunk and the twigs to the branch. Like the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22-23), these qualities grow out of life and out of a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not enough for the Christian to “let go and let God,” as though spiritual growth were God’s work alone. Literally, Peter wrote, “Make every effort to bring alongside.” The Father and the child must work together. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

The KJV translates this section add to your faith which is not an entirely accurate representation of the action Peter is calling for. This translation would suggest that we are to develop moral excellence first and when that is fully developed we add knowledge, etc, clearly not the intent of Peter's command.

MacDonald agrees that add to your faith can be misunderstood and goes on to explain that...

"What is necessary is that faith be supplemented by seven elements of holiness, not adding these one after another, but manifesting all the graces all the time." MacDonald goes on to say that "Tom Olson’s father used to read the passage to his sons as follows: Add to your faith the virtue or courage of David; and to the courage of David the knowledge of Solomon; and to the knowledge of Solomon the patience of Job; and to the patience of Job the godliness of Daniel; and to the godliness of Daniel the brotherly kindness of Jonathan; and to the brotherly kindness of Jonathan the love of John." (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Finally MacDonald quotes the respected Lutheran commentator Lenski who suggests that

"The list of seven is arranged with reference to the pseudo-prophets (2Pe 2:1) and to the way in which they live according to their pretended faith. For praise they supply disgrace; for knowledge, blindness; for self-control, libertinistic license; for perseverance in good, perseverance in evil; for godliness, ungodliness; for fraternal friendliness, dislike for God’s children; for genuine love, its terrible absence." (Ibid)

MORAL EXCELLENCE: ten areten: (2Pe 1:3 Php 4:8 )

Excellence - Long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi of Finland was an Olympic champion, winning twelve medals (nine of them gold) in the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Games. Nurmi was famous not only for his achievements, but also for running with a stopwatch in his hand to check his performance. It’s good to know how you’re doing along the way if you want to win a long-distance race. Peter would probably have liked Nurmi’s commitment to excellence. The apostle was determined to win his own race--the Christian race--and help other believers to do the same. Since we’re also in the same race, we need to pay close attention to Peter’s teaching. (Today in the Word)





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