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11. WICO: For Authenteo as “to Murder” 

                     



“To murder” or “to have authority”? In the current discussions in the church 
pursuing the meaning of authenteo one school of thought holds that the best 
translation of the term is “to murder” and the other school  maintains the 
best translation is “to have authority.”  The paper on authenteo (available 
on  dialogos-studies.com) covers a great deal of this discussion, some of which 
is excerpted below. More material  related to this will be covered in subsequent 
emails. 

STATEMENT (reflecting the position of Dr. Leland Witshire, professor at Biola 
University, a key contributor to the current discussions) 

An examination of  11 centuries of literature from 500 B.C. to 600 A.D. yields 
approximately four dozen instances of the use of the term authenteo. Although 
there is a certain variation of meanings, the predominant usage of the term is 
in the sense of “to murder” or “to commit a crime.”

RESPONSE (reflecting the position of Dr. Andreas Koestenberger, professor at 
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, another key contributor to these discussions)

Authenteo does not mean “murder” in I Timothy 2; rather, the correct translation 
is “to exercise authority.” 
In Dr. Witshire’s writing, he cites about four dozen instances of nouns where the 
translation is in some form “murderer.” However, in Dr. Koestenberg’s book Women 
in the Church (ref. also below) more than eighty instances are quoted where the 
verbs in all but one case carry meanings in one form or another of having authority.  
Does the verb form always carry one meaning and the noun another? How is one to 
know which meaning is the best in I Timothy 2?
(Paul Kretschmer, a nineteenth century theologian,  has provided an explanation 
that may be helpful in this regard. For the material on his understanding the word 
authenteo please refer to the Statement section 2.2 of the paper posted at the 
above address.)

Verbs and nouns can have different meanings, even if the word itself is the same. 
We cannot uncritically assume authenteo is exactly equivalent to “be an authentas” 
in every one of its senses. Our driving principle must be how people actually use 
language, not some theory about the origin of this or that word (etymology). The 
methodology acknowledging that verbs and nouns have distinct meanings is the same 
methodology employed by all recent lexicographers. We also have precedent to 
separate verb and noun forms – particularly in the case of authenteo – from the 
ancient lexicographer Hesychius. Finally, though the verb authenteo is relatively 
rare, the eighty-two references presented in this study are believed to be adequate 
to determine the meaning of the verb to be “to have authority”. This argument has 
more weight in light of the fact that Women in the Church is an attempt to provide 
an exhaustive list of the ancient uses of the verb form known to scholars to date. 
(Women in the Church, Köstenberger, Schreiner, Baldwin, pages 71-72.)


Watch for the following emails:

For Authenteo as “to Murder”

     Next:	Authenteo – A Positive Infinitive

Kretschmer on Distinguishing Noun and Verb

The Correct Translation of Authenteo

Conclusion of Authenteo
 


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