e]cw
(TO HAVE, TO HOLD, OR TO ESTEEM)
CHECK
IT OUT
By John W. White
The purpose of this tract is to look at a few
passages of scripture where the use of the verb
e]cw could mean
to count, to regard, or
to
esteem. The Strongs Concordance
defines
e]cw as 2192.
e]cw,
a primary verb;
to hold. The following ways in which it is translated is when
e]cw is used alone and not in combination:
count, following, have,
hold, and
kept. In the Analytical Greek Lexicon under
e]cw there is a reference made to
Matthew 14:5 "And when he [Herod] would have put him [John the
Baptist] to death, he feared the multitude, because they
counted [e]cw,
imperfect, active, indicative], him as a prophet." It caught my eye that the
context of this verse would support the meaning of the word
e]cw as
to hold, esteem, or
regard. I thought that it will be profitable to examine other passages
with this meaning in mind.
I have already made reference to the passage in Matthew 14:5 where the people
counted John the Baptist a prophet. In
Matthew 21:26
"But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all
hold (e]cw, present active indicative
esteem, regard) John as a
prophet." the translation of
e]cw is
hold. Ref. John 14:5; Mark 1:32.
The present tense of the verb
hold reflects the continuing
conviction that John the Baptist was a prophet of God.
Philemon 1:17 "If
thou count (e]cw, present active indicative
esteem, regard) me
therefore a partner, receive him as myself." Paul knew that Philemon held him
in high esteem as
partners in the ministry and
therefore could appeal to him on behalf of his run away slave, Onesimus.
1 Corinthians 2:16 "For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we
have (e]cw, present active indicative
esteem, regard) the mind
of Christ." If we have the mind of Christ then no one needs to instruct us,
but if we esteem the mind of Christ
then we can be taught the principals of the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:1
"Now as
touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all
have (e]cw,
present active indicative
esteem, regard) knowledge.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." Not everyone has knowledge but
everyone can esteem or regard knowledge. There are dangers in having much
knowledge and one of the dangers is being puffed up. Proverbs exhorts us to
have a higher regard for knowledge than for fine gold.
Proverbs 8:10 "Receive
... knowledge rather than choice
gold."
Philippians 2:29
"Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and
hold (e]cw,
present active indicative
esteem, regard) such in
reputation:" Philippians 1:1
"All the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and
deacons:" were to esteem
Epaphroditus as they would Paul. Epaphroditus was a companion in labour, and
fellow soldier of Paul.
Revelation 2:14-15 "But
I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that
hold (e]cw,
present active indicative
esteem, regard) the
doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit
fornication. 15. So hast thou also
them that hold (e]cw, present active indicative
esteem, regard)
the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes,
which thing I hate."
John 14:21 "He
that hath (e]cw,
esteem, regard, present active
participle) my
commandments, and keepeth (thre>w, present active participle,
guarding) them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall
be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
To have His commandments could imply possession of a copy of the Word of God.
It makes better sense
to
esteem or
to
regard His commandments. By esteeming His commandments the level of
intensity of keeping or guarding
them is increased. Esteeming His commandments will reflect in the level of
love and obedience to those commandments.
John 3:14-16 "And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man
be lifted up: 15. That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish,
but have (e]cw, present active subjunctive,
esteem, regard)
eternal
life. 16. For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish,
but have (e]cw, present active subjunctive,
esteem, regard)
everlasting
life."
These verses are not dealing with lost people and their salvation, but with
saved people and the consequences for their loathing of the manna that God was
providing for them in the wilderness.
Numbers 21:5-6 "And the people spake against God, ...Wherefore have ye
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for
there is no bread, neither is
there any water; and our
soul
loatheth this
light
bread. 6. And the LORD
sent fiery serpents among the
people, and they bit the people; and
much people
of Israel
died." The judgment of God came in
the way of vipers that struck them and caused many of the Children of Israel
to perish. If they perished in the wilderness they missed the inheritance that
was promised them in the land flowing with milk and honey.
The land flowing with milk and honey is a type of the heavenly
inheritance that is set before us in the Millennial Kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Agelasting
life and the inheritance
in the Millennial Kingdom are the same.
(Refer to the tract Eternal Life Check It Out) The word
eternal is not a good translation of the Greek word
aijw>n which should be translated
age.
If a child of God has no regard for the life that
can be enjoyed in the coming kingdom of our Lord, he will not put forth the
effort to enter into that kingdom by being obedient to His commandments and
living by faith in this present age. It takes a worthy walk to enter into His
Kingdom and Glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12
"That ye would walk worthy (appropriately,
becoming, after a Godly sort)
of God, who hath called you unto his
kingdom and glory." If you do not esteem that honor highly you will not
have what it takes to forsake all and follow Him.
John 5:24
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth [present active
participle] my word, and believeth [present active participle] on him that
sent me, hath (e]cw, present active indicative,
esteem, regard)
everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (see the tract
John 5:24, Check It Out) If you highly esteem life for the age, you
will continue in His word and will continue to believe what He says. If you
continue to hear his word and continue to believe what he says, you will be
faithful and obedient and you will not come into judgment. The
death referred to in this
verse is the loss of the
agelasting
life that is associated
with the coming Kingdom and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we practice the
first part of this verse because we esteem
agelasting life, we will not
experience the loss of that life in the coming millennial age. Esteeming life
for the age will encourage us to endure sound doctrine by continuing to hear
the word and to continue to believe what we hear.
John 6:40 "And
this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth [to behold or to consider] the Son, and
believeth [present active participle] on
him (the Son), may
have (e]cw, present active subjunctive,
esteem, regard)
everlasting [aijw>n agelasting]
life: and I will raise him up at the last day." The words
seeth and
believeth are present active participle which imply faithfulness in
both
considering and
believing the Son. This should be the lifestyle of those who have been
saved. The apostles were able to observe the Lord in their daily walk with him
because they were following Him, but we must see and consider the Son by
reading and musing on the Word of God.
If we are following the Lord we are becoming like
Him. We consider and reflect on the mind of Christ found in
Hebrews 5:8 "Though he were a
Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he
suffered;" that we might learn obedience by the things we suffer. If we are
seeing the Son we would be seeing the mind of Christ as presented in
Philippians 2:5,7-9
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"
"7. But made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men: 8. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and
became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. 9.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name:"
We would see that Jesus Christ as an overcomer who
was then granted to sit in the throne of His Father. Seeing the blessings of
His Son we should be encouraged to be overcomers and sit with Him in his
throne. Revelation 3:21 "To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as
I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne." We would consider what is meant by
Revelation 21:7 "He
that overcometh shall inherit
all
things; and I will be his God, and he
shall be my son."
John 6:47
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth [present active
participle] on me hath (e]cw, present
active indicative,
esteem, regard)
everlasting life." Those that
believe that they have life for the coming age is given to them when they are
saved will unlikely continue to be faithful.
Luke 8:13 "They on the rock
are they, which, when they hear,
receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a
while believe [present active indicative], and in time of temptation
fall away."
1 John 3:15
"Whosoever hateth his
brother is a murderer:
and ye know that no
murderer
hath (e]cw,
present active indicative,
esteem, regard) eternal
life abiding in him." This verse
may imply that if you murder anyone you can't be saved. This verse and verse
14 is dealing with treatment of brothers and sisters in the Lord, and not
siblings in a family. The murdering of a brother in the Lord takes place in
the heart. This is murder after salvation. What are the consequences of murder
after one comes in to a deeper knowledge of the truth? A partial list of the
works of the flesh is found in
Galatians 5:21 "Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings,
and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told
you in time past, that
they which do such things shall
not inherit the
kingdom of God." Keep in
mind that inherit is a family matter and not a salvation matter. What is
basically being taught in this verse is that if you hate a brother in the Lord
for any period of time, you have no regard for the life in the coming
millennial kingdom abiding in your heart and thoughts where the hate abides.
1 John 3:14 "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death." The word
death is the Greek words
oj
qa>natov
and is reference to the loss of the life of honor and glory in the coming
kingdom of our Lord. The spiritual condition of those who are lost is found in
Ephesians 2:1 "And you ...who were
dead in trespasses and sins:" where the word dead is the Greek word
nekro>v. Both
qa>natov
and
nekrov are used
when referring to physical death as well. If you hate your brother you do not
realize what you are going to miss by this behavior. You will miss the
privilege of sharing in the glory of the coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ. If you will esteem life for the age, you will adjust your attitude and
feelings toward a brother or sister in Christ.
1 John 2:23
"Whosoever denieth [present middle
participle] the Son, the same hath
[e]cw, present active indicative, esteemeth] not the
Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth
[present active participle, confesseth]
the
Son
hath [e]cw, present active indicative, esteemeth] the
Father also." Both the Father and the Son
are esteemed or regarded when the Son is confessed as well as the Father.
1 John 5:12
"He that
hath (e]cw, present active participle)
the Son
hath (e]cw, present active indicative) [the]
life; and he that
hath (e]cw, present active participle)
not [ou>j,
emphatic] the Son of God
hath (e]cw, present active indicative)
not [the] life." The
phrases
e]cwn
ton uio<n (hath
the
Son) and
e]cei th zwh>v (hath
the
life) only occur here in the New
Testament.
Too many Bible teachers teach this verse is dealing
with salvation. The concept of salvation is not having the Son to be saved,
but to
believe on Jesus Christ to be
saved. The aorist tense of the verb believe indicating that
salvation is an event as shown in Acts
16:31 "...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." The
word
hath in 1 John 5:12 may sound past tense, but on the contrary it
is a present active participle indicating continuous action, which implies
faithfulness on the part of the one
that hath
the
Son. He is not our
possession but we are his possession "19. ...ye are not your own? 20
For ye are bought with a price." 1
Corinthians 6:19,20.
The word
hath occurs four times in this
verse. Each time the grammar of this word is in the present tense, whether a
participle or a verb. It seems to me it would make better sense to translate
the word
hath as
esteemeth or
regardeth. To esteem or
regard the Son is to esteem or regard what Jesus Christ, the Son of God
esteemed or regarded. Jesus told his disciples in
John 4:34 "... My meat is
to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
The ultimate purpose of Jesus Christ was to please
the Father. Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus ...; who for
the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Revelation 3:21 "To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with
me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with
my Father in his throne." Hebrews 5:8
"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered;" The things which he suffered was not only
the cross of crucifixion but the daily cross that all of us must bear if we
are going to please Him.
In the context of 1 John 5.12 is
1 John 5:4-5 "For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh
[present active indicative] the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even
our faith. 5. Who is he that
overcometh [present active
participle] the world, but he that
believeth [present active participle]
that Jesus is the Son of God?" Only
the saved can be victorious over the World and that victory is based upon
whether we please God or not. Hebrews
11:6 "But without faith
it is
impossible to please
him..." The only way that you can be
an overcomer is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
What are the privileges of the overcomer? They are
found in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation. Just being
saved does not make you an overcomer. Many who have been faithful to the Lord
have made shipwreck of the faith. Paul warns Timothy in
1 Timothy 1:19 "Holding
faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have
made shipwreck:" and in
1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the
faith, ..."
If we esteem what the Son of God esteemed we are
going to esteem the life that those who are overcomers will enjoy in the
millennial. Revelation 21:7 "He
that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I
will be his God, and he shall be my
son." Revelation 2:11 "... He
that overcometh shall not be
hurt of the
second death."
Revelation 20:6
"Blessed and holy is he [the overcomer]
that hath part in the first [best]
resurrection: on such the second death
hath no power [not hurt], ... and shall
reign with him a
thousand
years." Jesus Christ was the only
begotten Son of God. We are qualifying to become sons of God. We do that by
being overcomers. We are not sons of God now but we can behave ourselves as a
son by our faithfulness to Him.
The phrase
hath life could be translated
esteemeth the life. The word
life has the definite article
before it and it is defined in 1 John
5:11 "And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this [the] life is in his
Son." Matthew 19:16-17 "...what
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17. And he said unto him, ... if thou wilt enter into [the]
life, keep the commandments."
Mark 10:21 "Then Jesus ... said unto him,
One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up
the cross, and follow me." The one thing that he lacked was faith. He was
obedient to the moral law but would not live by faith. He did not have a high
esteem for
the life. If you do not have regard for the life of honor in the
kingdom of the heaven you will not pay the price to enter into that life.
Salvation will allow you to see the kingdom of God.
John 3:3 "...Except a
man be born again, he cannot see
the
kingdom of
God." The first reference in the
New Testament is in Matthew 7:14
"Because strait [steno>v, narrow] is
the gate, and narrow [qli>bw, affliction, trouble, tribulation]
is the way, which leadeth unto [the]
life, and few there be that find it." If you esteem this life you
will find the narrow, restricted gate and stay on the way that is pressed in
with stress, afflictions,
trouble, tribulations. If you do not esteem the Son you will not esteem the
life and therefore you will not enter into that life of honor and glory.
John 5:13
"These things have I written unto you that
believe [pisteuw, present
active participle] on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye
have [e]cw, present active indicative, esteemeth]
eternal life, and that ye
may believe [pisteuw, present active participle] on the name of the Son
of God." I have found that
believe in the present tense
carries the same meaning as that of
faith. John is writing to those
who are faithful in believing that they might continue to esteem life for the
age. That they might continue to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
that they may be overcomers.
John 20:31 "But
these are written, that ye
might
believe [present active subjunctive] that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God; and that believing
[present active participle] ye might
have (e]cw, [present active subjunctive]
esteem, regard) life
through his name." This verse is often used to show that the book of John was
written that men might be saved. John was written so that those who have been
saved would be faithful in believing in the present tense. Believing that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God is part of seeing the Son in John 6:40. The
present active participle
believe in conjunction with the
present active subjunctive of esteem implies that continuing to believe is
dependent upon the level of esteeming life for the coming age.
2 John 1:9
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath (e]cw,
present active indicative,
esteem, regard) not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath (e]cw, present active indicative,
esteem, regard) both the
Father and the Son." One way that we can know that we esteem the Son is our
attitude toward the doctrine of Christ.
By translating
e]cw as
to esteem or
to regard is to give the level of intensity we should have
concerning the life that we can enjoy during the coming millennial age.
Contrary to popular teaching, entering into this life is not guaranteed. Our
inheritance is not guaranteed either. 2
John 1:8 "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward." If we expect to hear well done
thou good and faithful servant, we are going to have to be profitable
servants. To be profitable servants we will have to serve him in grace.
Hebrews 12:28 "Let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly
fear:" Our inheritance is going to be based upon the level of the hope that we
have for life of honor and glory in the coming age.
Titus 3:7-8 "That being justified
by his grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou
affirm constantly, that they which
have believed in God might be careful
[anxious] to maintain good works. These things are
good and profitable unto
men." We are to be anxious about maintaining good works and in
Romans 12:11 "Not
slothful in business [diligence];
fervent in spirit;
serving the Lord;" The writer of
Hebrews desired Hebrews 6:11-12
"...that every one of you do show the same
diligence to the full assurance of
hope unto the end:
12. That ye be not slothful, but
followers of
them who through
faith and
patience inherit the
promises." The promises they inherited pertained to a heavenly country and
Hebrews 11:10 "city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is
God." The promise is conditional. If you believe that all believers will
have an abundant entrance into the coming kingdom of our Lord then there is no
need for the child of God to 2 Peter
1:10-11 "...give diligence to make
your calling and
election
sure [stedfast]: for if ye do these things, ye shall never
fall [stumble, as Israel]:
11. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The things we are
to do are found in 2 Peter 1:5-7 "And beside this,
giving all
diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge 6. And to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience
godliness; 7. And to
godliness brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness
charity." What we esteem and regard
does make a difference in our lifestyle.
Hebrews 10:35-36 "Cast
not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompense of reward.
36. For ye have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of
God, ye might
receive the
promise."
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Out Tracts
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