θάνατος

θανάτου, ὁ (θανεῖν); the Sept. for מָוֶת and מוּת, also for דֶּבֶר pestilence (Winers Grammar, 29 note); (one of the nouns often anarthrous, cf. Winers Grammar, § 19, 1 under the word; (Buttmann, § 124, 8 c.); Grimm, commentary on Sap., p. 59); death;
1. properly, the death of the body, i. e. that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended: Jn 11:4 (13); Acts 2:24 (Tr marginal reading ᾅδου) (on this see ὠδίν); Phm 2:27, Phm 2:30; Heb 7:23; Heb 9:15; Rev 9:6; Rev 18:8; opposed to ζωή, Rom 8:38; 1 Cor 3:22; 2 Cor 1:9; Phm 1:20; with the implied idea of future misery in the state beyond, 1 Cor 15:21; 2 Tim 1:10; Heb 2:14f; equivalent to the power of death, 2 Cor 4:12. Since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived of as being very dark, χώρα καί σκιά θανάτου (צַלְמָוֶת) is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness, i. e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin: Mt 4:16; Lk 1:79 (from Isa 9:2); θάνατος is used of the punishment of Christ, Rom 5:10; Rom 6:3-5; 1 Cor 11:26; Phm 3:10; Col 1:22; (Heb 2:9),Heb 2:14; σῴζειν τινα ἐκ θανάτου, to free from the fear of death, to enable one to undergo death fearlessly, Heb 5:7 (but others besides); ῤύεσθαι ἐκ θανάτου, to deliver from the danger of death, 2 Cor 1:10; plural θανατοῖ, deaths (i. e. mortal perils) of various kinds, 2 Cor 11:23; περίλυπος ἕως θανάτου, even unto death, i. e. so that I am almost dying of sorrow, Mt 26:38; Mk 14:34 (λελύπημαι ἕως θανάτου, Jon 4:9; λύπη ἕως θανάτου, Sir. 37:2, cf, Judg 16:16); μέχρι θανάτου, so as not to refuse to undergo even death, Phm 2:8; also ἄχρι θανάτου, Rev 2:10; Rev 12:11; ἐσφαγμένος εἰς θάνατον, that has received a deadly wound, Rev 13:3; πληγή θανάτου, a deadly wound (death-stroke, cf. Winer's Grammar, § 34, 3 b.), Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12; ἰδεῖν θάνατον, to experience death, Lk 2:26; Heb 11:5; also γεύεσθαι θανάτου (see γεύω, 2), Mt 16:28; Mk 9:1; Lk 9:27; διώκειν τινα ἄχρι θανάτου, even to destruction, Acts 22:4; κατακρίνειν τινα θανάτῳ, to condemn one to death (admortemdamnare, Tacitus), Mt 20:18 (here Tdf. εἰς θάνατον); Mk 10:33, (see κατακρίνω, a.); πορεύεσθαι εἰς θάνατον, to undergo death, Lk 22:33; παραδιδόναι τινα εἰς θάνατον, that he may be put to death, Mt 10:21; Mk 13:12; passive, to be given over to the peril of death, 2 Cor 4:11; παρέδωκαν... εἰς κρίμα θανάτου, Lk 24:20; ἀποκτεῖναι τινα ἐν θανάτῳ (a Hebraism (cf. Buttmann, 184 (159f))), Rev 2:23; Rev 6:8 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 29 note); αἰτία θανάτου (see αἰτία, 2), Acts 13:28; Acts 28:18; ἄξιον τί θανάτου, some crime worthy of the penalty of death, Acts 23:29; Acts 25:11, Acts 25:25; (Acts 26:31); Lk 23:15, Lk 23:22 (here αἴτιον (which see 2 b.) θάνατος); ἔνοχος θανάτου, worthy of punishment by death, Mt 26:66; Mk 14:64; θανάτῳ τελευτάτω, let him surely be put to death, Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10, after Ex 21:17 the Sept. (Hebrew יוּמָת מות); cf. Winers Grammar, § 44 at the end N. 3; (Buttmann, as above); θανάτου... σταυροῦ, Phm 2:8; ποιῶ θανάτῳ, by what kind of death, Jn 12:33; Jn 18:32; Jn 21:19. The inevitable necessity of dying, shared alike by all men, takes on in the popular imagination the form of a person, a tyrant, subjugating men to his power and confining them in his dark dominions: Rom 6:9; (1 Cor 15:26),1 Cor 15:54,1 Cor 15:56; Rev 21:4; Hades is associated with him as his partner: 1 Cor 15:55 R G; Rev 1:18 (on which see κλείς); Rev 6:8; ,(a) (Ps 17:5; Ps 114:3; Hos 13:14; Sir. 14:12).
2. metaphorically, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, i. e. "the misery of soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body": 2 Cor 3:7; Jas 1:15 (Clement of Rome, 2 Cor. 1, 6 [ET] says of life before conversion to Christ, ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ὅλος ἄλλο οὐδέν ἦν εἰ μή θάνατος (cf. Philo, praem. et poenis § 12, and references in 4 below)); opposed to ἡ ζωή, Rom 7:10, Rom 7:13; 2 Cor 2:16; opposed to σωτηρία, 2 Cor 7:10; equivalent to the cause of death, Rom 7:13; σῴζειν ψυχήν ἐκ θανάτου, Jas 5:20; μεταβεβηκέναι ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τήν ζωήν, Jn 5:24; 1 Jn 3:14; μένειν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ, 1 Jn 3:14; θεωρεῖν θάνατον, Jn 8:51; γεύεσθαι θανάτου, Jn 8:52 (see 1 above); ἁμαρτία and ἁμαρτάνειν πρός θάνατον (see ἁμαρτία, 2 b.), 1 Jn 5:16f (in the rabbinical writers לָמוּת חֵטְא — after Num 18:22, the Sept. ἁμαρτία θανατηφόρος — is acrimen capitale).
3. the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell is called — now simply θάνατος, Rom 1:32 (Wis. 1:12f Wis. 2:24; Tatian or. ad Graec. c. 13; the author of the epistle ad Diognet. c. 10, 7 [ET] distinguishes between ὁ δοκῶν ἐνθάδε θάνατος, the death of the body, and ὁ ὄντως θάνατος, ὅς φυλάσσεται τοῖς κατακριθησομενοις εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον); now ὁ δεύτερος θάνατος and ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος (as opposed to the former death, i. e. to that by which life on earth is ended), Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6, Rev 20:14b; Rev 21:8 (as in the Targums on Deut 33:6; Ps 48:11; Isa 22:14; Isa 66:15; (for the Greek use of the phrase cf. Plutarch, de fade in orbe lunae 27, 6, p. 942 f.); θάνατος αἰώνιος, the Epistle of Barnabas 20, 1 [ET] and in ecclesiastical writings (ὁ ἀΐδιος θάνατος, Philo, post. Cain. § 11 at the end; see also Wetstein on Rev 2:11)).
4. In the widest sense, death comprises all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth (Philo, alleg. legg. i. § 33 ὁ ψυχῆς θάνατος ἀρετῆς μέν φθορά ἐστι, κακίας δέ ἀνάληψις (de profug. § 21 θάνατος ψυχῆς ὁ μετά κακίας ἐστι βίος, especially §§ 10, 11; qued det. pot. insid. §§ 14, 15; de poster. Cain. § 21, and de praem. et poen. as in 2 above)), to be followed by wretchedness in the lower world (opposed to ζωή αἰώνιος): θάνατος seems to be so used in Rom 5:12; Rom 6:16, Rom 6:21 (Rom 6:23; yet others refer these last three examples to 3 above); Rom 7:24; Rom 8:2, Rom 8:6; death, in this sense, is personified in Rom 5:14, Rom 5:17, Rom 5:21; Rom 7:5. Others, in all these passages as well as those cited under 2, understand physical death; but see Philippi on Rom 5:12; Messner, Lehre der Apostel, p. 210ff