G1479 ἐθελοθρησκεία (ethelothrēskeía)

ἐθελο-θρησκεία [Ἴ WH -xia, see I, ¢], -as, ἡ, (fr. ἐθέλω and θρησκεία, q. ν. [ef. W. 100 (95) ]), voluntary, arbitrary worship, (Wulg. superstitio), [A. V. will-worship], i. 6. worship which one devises and prescribes for himself, contrary to the contents and nature of the faith which ought to be directed to Christ; said of the misdirected zeal and practices of ascetics: Col. ii. 23; Suid. ἐθελοθρησκεῖ " ἰδίῳ θελήματι σέβει τὸ δοκοῦν. Cf. ἐθελόδουλος, ἐθελοδουλεία, ἐθελοπμόξενος one who acts the part of a proxenus without having been appointed to the office, ete. The explanation of others : simulated, counterfeit religion (cf. in Greek lexicons ἐθελοφιλόσοφος. ἐθελόκωφος, etc.), does not square so well with the context. (The word is found besides in Mansi, Collect. Concil. vol. iv. Ρ- 1380, and in Theodoret, vol. iv. ep. clxi. p. [1460 b. ed. Migne].1331, Ialle ed.; [Euseb. h. 6. 6, 12,1; Jerome ep. exxi. vol. i. 1034 ed. Migne]. Epiph. haer. 1, 16 [i. p- 318, 3 ed. Dind.] attributes ἐθελοπερισσο θρησκεία to the Pharisees.)

ἐθελοθρησκία ethelothrēskia 1x

also spelled ἐθελοθρησκεία, self-made religion, Col. 2:23*

*† ἐθελο-θρησκία (Rec. -εία), -ας, ἡ, self-imposed worship: Col 2:23 (eccl.; cf. DB, iv, 923a; Cremer, 733).†

θρησκεία. As against the common idea that θρησκεία means only ritual, Hort (on Jas 135) has shown that the underlying idea is simply ‘‘ reverence of the gods or worship of the gods, two sides of the same feeling ”—a feeling which, however, frequently finds expression in θρησκεῖαι or ritual acts. Of this use of the plur. a good example occurs in a ii/A.D. Rainer papyrus published by Wessely (A@ranzs, p- 56) where precautions are taken πρὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ .. - ἵνα μήκετι αἱ τῶν θεῶν θρησκεῖαι ἐμποδίζοί--- οὐνται (cf. 1 Macc οδδ): see also another Rainer papyrus, Chrest. I. 721° (a.D. 234), where it is reported—pmSéva δὲ τῶν ἱερέω[ν ἢ] ἱερωμένων ἐνκαταλελοιπέναι τὰς [θρ]ησκείας, and cf. the curious inser. from Talmis in Nubia, 7d. 7319 (A.D. 247-8), where the strategus gives orders that all ‘‘swine” should be driven out of the village—mpds τὸ δύνασθαι τὰ περὶ τὰ ἱερὰ θρήσκια κατὰ τὰ νενομισμένα γείνεσθαι. In the Delphic inscr., first published by Bourguet De γεύμς Delphicis, 1905, p. 63f., which has proved of such importance in dating Gallio’s proconsulship, and consequently in fixing a point in the Pauline chronology (see s.v. Γαλλίων), the words érerfpyfoa δὲ τὴ]ν θρησκεί[αν τ]οῦ “Amd[ANwvos] | τοῦ Πυϑίου are put into the mouth of the Emperor Tiberius, | to which Deissmann (.S¢. Paz/, p. 251) furnishes a parallel from the same source in a letter of Hadrian’s to Delphi: καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τῆ]ς πόλεως Kal εἰς τὴν τοῦ κατέχοντος αὐτὴν θεοῦ θρησ]κείαν ἀφορῶν (Bourguet, p- 78). We may add Sy/ 65648 (Ephesus—ii/A.D.) which describes | as θρησκεία the keeping of the month Artemision as sacred to the tutelary goddess, OG/S 51318 (beginning of iii/A.D.) in honour of a priestess—etoeBGs πᾶσαν θρησκείαν ἐκτελέσα- | σαν τῇ θεῷ, and the interesting passage quoted by C. Taylor (Exp T xvi. p. 334) in illustration of Jas 17° from the end of c. 12 of the Ποιμάνδρης of Hermes Trismegistos—Kat τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ θεός, TO πᾶν . . . τοῦτον τὸν λόγον, ὦ τέκνον, προσκύνει καὶ θρήσκευε. θρησκεία δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ μία ἐστί, μὴ εἶναι κακόν, ‘Set hoc deus est, universum . . . hoc verbum, o fili, adora et cole. Cultus autem dei unus est, malum non esse” (ed. Parthey, Berlin, 1854). For the verb see derives the Ionic word from the root of θεράπων, θεραπεύω : cf. θρόνος.

ἐθελοθρησκεία (ethelothrēskeia) — self-made religion. ἐθελο-θρησκεία, ἡ, will-worship, self-chosen service, [NT]