In Ephesians 4:32, is χαρίζομαι really about forgiveness, per se, or is it about “showering with generosity” (“prodigali

[Bill Ross]

[Eph 4:32 NLT] (32) Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

[Eph 4:32 MGNT] (32) γίνεσθε δὲ εἰς ἀλλήλους χρηστοί εὔσπλαγχνοι χαριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς καθὼς καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐν Χριστῷ ἐχαρίσατο ὑμῖν

χαρίζομαι (χάρις; Hom.+) mid. dep.: fut. χαρίσομαι Ro 8:32 (also Lucian, Dial. Mort. 9, 1; Jos., Ant. 2, 28; for Att. χαριοῦμαι); 1 aor. ἐχαρισάμην; pf. κεχάρισμαι. Pass., w. pass. sense: 1 fut. χαρισθήσομαι Phlm 22; 1 aor. ἐχαρίσθην Ac 3:14; 1 Cor 2:12; Phil 1:29.

① to give freely as a favor, give graciously (a common term in honorific documents lauding officials and civic-minded pers. for their beneficence, s. SIG index and indexes of other inscriptional corpora) of God (so Ael. Aristid. 39, 3 K.=18 p. 409 D.; Herm. Wr. 12, 12; 16, 5 and p. 462, 30; 490, 9; 35; 492, 11 Sc.; 3 Macc 5:11; EpArist 196; TestSim 4:6; Jos., Ant. 3, 87; 4, 317) θεὸν … τὰ ἐκεῖ θαυμάσια χαριζόμενον God, who graciously bestows wonderful things from the world beyond (as opposed to the finery of this world, which in contrast is ‘shit’; s. δεινός and σκύβαλον) AcPl Ha 2, 23f. τινί τι someth. to someone (Appian, Bell. Civ. 1, 79 §360 χαρίζεσθαί τινι τὴν σωτηρίαν; Paus. 6, 18, 4 χαρίσασθαί μοι τήνδε ὦ βασιλεῦ τὴν χάριν; TestAbr A 3 p. 79, 30 [Stone p. 6] τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν) Ro 8:32; Phil 2:9; 2 Cl 1:4; Hs 9, 28, 6; D 10:3. This is also the place for Gal 3:18 if τὴν κληρονομίαν is to be supplied fr. the context (but s. end of this sec.). τυφλοῖς ἐχαρίσατο βλέπειν to the blind he granted the power of sight Lk 7:21 (v.l. τὸ βλέπειν; cp. Plut., Mor. 609a; 2 Macc 3:31, 33). ὁ χαρισάμενος ὑμῖν τοιοῦτον ἐπίσκοπον κεκτῆσθαι the one who (by his favor) granted you to obtain such a bishop IEph 1:3. Pass. 1 Cor 2:12. ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ πάσχειν you have (graciously) been granted the privilege of suffering for Christ Phil 1:29.—χ. τινά τινι give or grant someone to someone (Semonides 7, 93f D.3: Zeus χαρίζεταί τινά τινι=Z. grants one [i.e., a good wife] to someone) κεχάρισταί σοι ὁ θεὸς πάντας τοὺς πλέοντας μετά σου God has given you all those who are sailing with you, i.e. at your request God has granted them safety fr. deadly danger Ac 27:24. The one who is ‘given’ escapes death or further imprisonment by being handed over to those who wish him freed ᾐτήσασθε ἄνδρα φονέα χαρισθῆναι ὑμῖν Ac 3:14. Cp. Phlm 22 (Diod S 13, 59, 3 ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τοὺς συγγενεῖσ=he granted him his [captured] relatives [and set them free]; Plut., C. Gracch. 836 [4, 3] χ. τὸν Ὀκτάβιον τῇ μητρί; PFlor 61, 61 [I A.D.] cited s.v. ὄχλος 1a, end; Jos., Vi. 355.—On the ‘giving’ of Barabbas s. JMerkel, Die Begnadigung am Passahfeste: ZNW 6, 1905, 293–316). On the other hand, the giving of a man to those who wish him ill results in harm to him (cp. Jos., Vi. 53) οὐδείς με δύναται αὐτοῖς χαρίσασθαι Ac 25:11; cp. vs. 16 (without dat., which is easily supplied; the v.l. adds εἰς ἀπώλειαν to it). Ign. rejects every attempt of others to save his life, because he wishes to leave the world and be with God, and martyrdom opens the way for this: τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ θέλοντα εἶναι κόσμῳ μὴ χαρίσησθε do not give to the world the one who wishes to belong to God IRo 6:2.—W. only the dat. χ. τινι show oneself to be gracious to someone (Diod S 14, 11, 1; Appian, Bell. Civ. 2, 112 §467; SIG 354, 4f βουλόμενος χαρίζεσθαι τῷ δήμῳ; ApcEsdr 25:7 τοὺς δικαίους τί χαρίζεις; Jos., Ant. 17, 222; Eunap. p. 77 Boiss.) Gal 3:18 (s. above; also Betz, Gal. ad loc.).

② to cancel a sum of money that is owed, cancel (Ps.-Aeschin., Ep. 12, 14; Philo, Spec. Leg. 2, 39 τὰ δάνεια) Lk 7:42f. This forms a transition to

③ to show oneself gracious by forgiving wrongdoing, forgive, pardon (Dionys. Hal. 5, 4, 3; Jos., Ant. 6, 144 ἁμαρτήματα χαρίζεσθαι) w. dat. of pers. and acc. of thing (TestJob 43:1 αὐτοῖς … τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῶν) χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα Col 2:13; cp. 2 Cor 2:10a; 12:13. W. dat. of pers. alone Eph 4:32ab; Col 3:13ab (Plut., Mor. 488a χαίρειν τῷ χαρίζεσθαι μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς ἢ τῷ νικᾶν=to delight in doing them favors rather than getting the better of them). W. acc. of thing alone 2 Cor 2:10bc. Abs. (cp. EpArist 215) rather forgive 2 Cor 2:7.—B. 1174. DELG s.v. χάρις. M-M. EDNT. TW.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 1078). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[Eeli Kaikkonen]

Please state your question in the message body, not just in the subjet line.

[Bill Ross]

Please state your question in the message body, not just in the subject line.

I don't see any way to edit my post, sorry.

I do note that every translation on Biblehub has "forgive" while the Knox translation of the Latin has "generous":

https://biblehub.com/ephesians/4-32.htm

The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
Paul to the Ephesians Chapter 4:
31 There must be no trace of bitterness among you, of passion, resentment, quarreling, insulting talk, or spite of any kind; 32 be kind and tender to one another, each of you generous to all, as God in Christ has been generous to you.

Vulgate
Ephesians 4:32 Estote autem invicem benigni, misericordes, donantes invicem sicut et Deus in Christo donavit vobis.

[Daniel Semler]

I guess I have three thoughts on this Bill.

1. Translations, it seems to me, get stuck in their ways. The KJV cast a very long shadow and others cast their own.

2. Various words in Greek appear have been used in the NT texts in a restricted sense or senses and you don't see the full extent of their semantic range come to expression in the NT. Josephus has been very instructive to read in this light, as an example.

3. Is it not generous to forgive ?

Thx
D

[Bill Ross]

I guess I have three thoughts on this Bill.

1. Translations, it seems to me, get stuck in their ways. The KJV cast a very long shadow and others cast their own.

2. Various words in Greek appear have been used in the NT texts in a restricted sense or senses and you don't see the full extent of their semantic range come to expression in the NT. Josephus has been very instructive to read in this light, as an example.

3. Is it not generous to forgive ?

Thx
D

It was because of point #3 that I said "per se". And I agree with point #1, though do not think it exculpates anyone.

[Barry Hofstetter]

Please state your question in the message body, not just in the subject line.

I don't see any way to edit my post, sorry.

I do note that every translation on Biblehub has "forgive" while the Knox translation of the Latin has "generous":

https://biblehub.com/ephesians/4-32.htm

The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
Paul to the Ephesians Chapter 4:
31 There must be no trace of bitterness among you, of passion, resentment, quarreling, insulting talk, or spite of any kind; 32 be kind and tender to one another, each of you generous to all, as God in Christ has been generous to you.

Vulgate
Ephesians 4:32 Estote autem invicem benigni, misericordes, donantes invicem sicut et Deus in Christo donavit vobis.

"Every translation" of the Greek is correct. The Knox translation I would question. I think rather Jerome had in mind this meaning of dōnō:

b to excuse (faults, etc., for the sake of, in response to); to forgive, let off (a person for the sake of).
▶ culpa grauis precibus ~atur saepe suorum OV. Pont. 2.7.51; SEN. Ep. 81.4; PETR. 58.3; qualecumque crimen ~ari meritis ‥ potest QUINT. Decl. 310(p.222,l.19); (impersonal passive) puer est: aetati ~etur SEN. Dial. 4.30.1; —noxae damnatus ‥ ~atur tribuniciae potestati precarium ‥ auxilium ferenti LIV. 8.35.5; alium dignitati ~aui, alium humilitati SEN. Cl. 1.1.4; quid ergo est (i.e. his misconduct)? ~o uobis eum PETR. 30.11; FLOR. Epit. 1.40(3.5.10).

Glare, P. G. W. (Ed.). (2012). Oxford Latin Dictionary (Second Edition, Vol. I & II). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Douay-Rheims:

And be ye kind one to another: merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.

[Bill Ross]

So perhaps "being gracious"?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gracious

Meaning #2?

[Barry Hofstetter]

So perhaps "being gracious"?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gracious

Meaning #2?

No, I think the intended sense if what we mean by "forgive."

[Bill Ross]

And what might be your evidence?

[Barry Hofstetter]

And what might be your evidence?

Didn't you cite BDAG yourself?

③ to show oneself gracious by forgiving wrongdoing, forgive, pardon (Dionys. Hal. 5, 4, 3; Jos., Ant. 6, 144 ἁμαρτήματα χαρίζεσθαι) w. dat. of pers. and acc. of thing (TestJob 43:1 αὐτοῖς … τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῶν) χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα Col 2:13; cp. 2 Cor 2:10a; 12:13. W. dat. of pers. alone Eph 4:32ab; Col 3:13ab (Plut., Mor. 488a χαίρειν τῷ χαρίζεσθαι μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς ἢ τῷ νικᾶν=to delight in doing them favors rather than getting the better of them). W. acc. of thing alone 2 Cor 2:10bc. Abs. (cp. EpArist 215) rather forgive 2 Cor 2:7.—B. 1174. DELG s.v. χάρις. M-M. EDNT. TW.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 1078). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.