BE YE HOLY: A WORD STUDY OF ΑΓΙΟΣ in the New Testament
The Koine Greek word Ἅγιος is typically translated in the New Testament as “holy”. As such it means anything consecrated or dedicated to God, someone or something sacred or pure.
Holiness in the Old Testament
Holiness is first and foremost an attribute of God in the Old Testament; Yahweh refers to himself as holy (for I the Lord am holy) and this holiness is often manifested as a force of nature such as earthquake, thunder, smoke or cloud on those occasions when the Lord would make himself known to mankind.
A less exalted, but more common, use of the concept is as a description of a place, person or thing consecrated to Yahweh, a place, person or thing set aside for God. This is in direct contrast to those places, persons or things set aside for common usage.
The ark of the covenant had a Holy Chamber and its inner sanctum was called the Holy of Holies. The voice from the burning bush warned Moses to take off his sandals “for the place you are standing on is holy ground”. ESV.
Priestly raiments, rings and oils were holy and the crown of gold to be worn by the high priest was engraved “Holy to the Lord” ESV.
Finally, an entire people could be holy (at least potentially if not in actuality). Yahweh commands that the Israelites “shall be holy, for I the Lord am holy). ESV.
Holiness in the New Testament (PART 1)
The concept of holiness may be a little more circumscribed in the New Testament.
The word ἅγιος is an adjective and as such spends most of its time modifying a noun and the noun it spends most its time modifying in the New Testament is πνεῦμα (spirit) i.e. τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα (the Holy Spirit). This is by far its most common occurrence in the New Testament and is the title of the third person of the trinity used by all four evangelists, the apostles Paul, Peter and John and the author of Hebrews.
The author of The Book of Revelations takes advantage of the more free-wheeling style of apocalyptic literature to dub such entities as cities and angels as holy while Paul memorably commends members of the fledgling church in Rome to greet each other “ἐν φιλήματι ἁγίω” (with a holy kiss) and Peter compares believers to living stones and a “ιεράτευμα ἅγιον” (holy priesthood).
A Technical Interlude
Ἅγιος, α, ον is a standard three ending adjective following the second and first declensions (2 - 1- 2) pattern with an uncontracted stem and the feminine in α.
It declines as per below:
Holiness in the New Testament (Part 2)
Apart from modifying a noun, an adjective in New Testament Greek can also be used as a substantive, i.e. to stand for a thing itself. This usually, but not always, involves the use of the article in front of the adjective.
Ἅγιος is used substantively in the New Testament, in the plural e.g. τοὺς ἅγίους (the holy ones) and is typically translated as “saints” or “the saints”.
The Apostle Paul commonly refers to members of the early Christian church as “saints” or “the saints” and the author of the Book of Revelations is also fond of the expression e.g. the beast of Revelation 13 blasphemes against God and is allowed “ποῆσαι πόλεμον μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων” (to make war with the saints) ESV.
Cognate Words
The word Αγιος, α, ον occurs over 200 times in the New Testament in adjectival and substantival form.
Its most important cognates are:
The verb ἁγιάζω means to make holy, consecrate or sanctify and occurs 28 times in the New Testament, most famously in the opening to the Lord’s prayer: “ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομα σου” - “hallowed be thy name”.
The noun ἁγιασμός, οῦ, ο means holiness or sanctification. It occurs 10 times in the New Testament. The author of Hebrews exhorts his audience to “pursue peace…and τὸν αγιασμόν (the holiness) without which no one will see the Lord”.
There are several other cognates but these occur seven times or less in the text and can be referenced in a lexicon when met.
