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Word Studies The Examination of Biblical Words in Their Context by James T. Bartsch |
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Occurrences of geuomai (1089) "taste" in the N.T. Does
geuomai (1089),
"taste", mean "to sample" food or some other entity without
fully partaking, or does it mean "to partake fully"? The reason for the
question arises from the attempt of some to deal with the theological
complexities of Hebrews 6:4, 5. Those of a
Calvinistic persuasion believe that a genuine believer in
Christ cannot lose his salvation. The
Scriptures support that view. Hebrews 6:4, 5, however,
presents a potential
obstacle to that view if the people
envisioned participated fully in the heavenly gift and
partook fully of
the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Nonetheless, an
objective
assessment of geuomai
leads one to the conclusion that the
instances of mere sampling are relatively few in number. It is
impossible, for example, to "taste death" and not partake fully of it.
Either one has died or he has not. Whatever the theological
complexities of Hebrews 6:4-6 may be, it seems best to understand the
"tasting" in that passage as meaning "fullly partaking", particularly
in view of the same writer's use of "taste" in Hebrews 2:9.
Published
May 23, 2013
Updated June 9,2020 |
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