Epistles it is almost entirely used to express the apostle’s repudiation of an inference
which he apprehends may be drawn from his argument.
B. Adverb.
$
(
"
, 209), “without hindrance” ( , negative, and A, No. 1, is
translated “none forbidding him,” in Acts 28:31. From the 2nd century A.D. onwards the
word is found constantly in legal documents (Moulton and Milligan, Vocab., who draw
attention to the triumphant note on which the word brings the Acts to a close).¶
FORCE
A. Adjective.
(
!
, 949), “firm, secure,” is translated “of force” (present usage would
translate it “in force”) in Heb. 9:17, of a testament, or covenant, in relation to a death. See
FIRM
.
B. Verb.
1.
(
2$ 1
, 726), “to snatch away, carry off by force,” is used in the next
sentence in Matt. 11:12, to that referred to under No. 1, “men of violence (
KJV
‘the
violent’) take it by force,” the meaning being, as determined by the preceding clause, that
those who are possessed of eagerness and zeal, instead of yielding to the opposition of
religious foes, such as the scribes and Pharisees, press their way into the kingdom, so as
to possess themselves of it. It is elsewhere similarly rendered in John 6:15, of those who
attempted to seize the Lord, and in Acts 23:10, of the chief captain’s command to the
soldiers to rescue Paul. See
CATCH
,
PLUCK
,
PULL
. Cf.
, “to plunder,” e.g., Matt.
12:29, and
$
, “to seize and carry away,” e.g., Acts 6:12, and
@
,
“rapacious, ravening,” e.g., Matt. 7:15.
Notes:
(1)
0
, “to force” (from
, “force”), is used in the passive voice in Matt.
11:12, of the kingdom of heaven as ‘suffering violence;’ so in Luke 16:16, “entereth
violently into it,” here in the middle voice, expressive of the special interest which the
doer of the act has in what he is doing. This meaning is abundantly confirmed by the
similar use in the papyri. Moulton and Milligan (
F !
) remark that Luke’s statement
can be naturally rendered “everyone is entering it violently.” See
VIOLENCE
.
(2) In Matt. 11:12, the corresponding noun,
, “violence,” is rendered “men of
violence,”
RV
(see No. 2). See
VIOLENCE
.
FOREFATHER
1.
(
$
, 4269), an adjective, primarily denoting “born before” ( ,
“before,” and
, “to become”), is used as a noun in the plural, 2 Tim. 1:3,
“forefathers” (in 1 Tim. 5:4, “parents”). See
PARENTS
.¶
2.
(
$
, 4253 and
$
, 3962), “a forefather” ( , “before,”
, “a
father”), is used of Abraham in Rom. 4:1.¶
¶ Indicates that all the NT occurrences of the Greek word under consideration are
mentioned under the heading or sub-heading.