Passion, Passions
Passion Passions
The word passion is used in the NT, both in the singular and in the plural, in senses which are now current only in biblical English.
1. Passion in the singular is used of the suffering or death of our Lord in Act 1:3, representing , which here denotes the Crucifixion (after his passion), and is exactly parallel with Heb 2:9, where is rendered the suffering of death. On the other hand, in Heb 2:10 means Christs sufferings in a more general sense, as in 2Co 1:5, Php 3:10, 1Pe 4:13; 1Pe 5:1. In his speech before Agrippa St. Paul says that Christ was subject to suffering (, Act 26:23)-that is to say, in His humanity. That in His Godhead He was impassible but in His humanity passible was insisted on by Ignatius against Docetic error (Eph. vii.: , so Polyc. iii.), and by other Fathers; cf. Apost. Const. II. xxiv. 3, VIII. xii. 33 (ed. Funk). We may compare the nickname Patripassians for the Sabellians, the logical outcome of whose doctrine was that the Father suffered. In the Thirty-nine Articles God is said to be without passions, or, in the (equally authoritative) Latin, impassibilis (art._ i.).
2. In another sense, passion in the NT is a neutral word unless qualified by the context; in Gal 5:24 passions (, AV_ affections) is qualified by lusts, and so the singular in 1Th 4:5 (RV_ passion of lust, AV_ lust of concupiscence); in Rom 7:5 passions () is qualified by of sins, and the phrase means sinful passions (AV_ motions of sins). Properly, then, passion is any feeling, not necessarily strong feeling, just as , lust, is originally a neutral word. The adjective , of like passions, is entirely neutral; it is used in Act 14:15 of Paul and Barnabas, and in Jam 5:17 of Elijah; in 4Ma 12:11 of men; and rather curiously in Wis 7:3 of the earth (AV_ which is of like nature [with men], RV_ kindred, RVm_ of like qualities); the meaning seems to be that the earth is mother of all (cf. Sir 40:1).
A. J. Maclean.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Passion, Passions
pashun, pashunz: Passion is derived from Latin passio, which in turn is derived from the verb patior, with the root, pat. The Latin words are connected with the Greek root, , path, which appears in a large number of derivatives. And in Greek, Latin, and English (with other languages in addition) words connected with this root, pat, path, are often susceptible of a great variety of meanings, for which the dictionaries must be consulted. For passion, however, as it appears in English Versions of the Bible, only three of these meanings need be considered. (1) Close to what seems to be the primary force of the root is the meaning suffer, and in this sense passion is used in Act 1:3, to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion. This translation is a paraphrase (Greek: after he had suffered), due to the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) (post passionem suam), and in English is as old as Wycliff, whom the subsequent English Versions of the Bible has followed. This is the only case in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) where passion has this meaning, and it can be so used in modern English only when referring (as here) to the sufferings of Christ (compare Passion play). (2) Suffering, when applied to the mind, came to denote the state that is controlled by some emotion, and so passion was applied to the emotion itself. This is the meaning of the word in Act 14:15, men of like passions, and Jam 5:17, a man of like passions, Greek , homoiopathes; the Revised Version margin of like nature gives the meaning exactly: men with the same emotions as we. (3) From emotion a transition took place to strong emotion, and this is the normal force of passion in modern English the King James Version does not use this meaning, but in the Revised Version (British and American) passion in this sense is the translation of , pathos, in its three occurrences: Rom 1:26 (the King James Version affection); Col 3:5 (the King James Version inordinate affection); 1Th 4:5 (the King James Version lust). It is used also for two occurrences of , pathema (closely allied to pathos) in Rom 7:5 (the King James Version motions, the King James Version margin passions) and in Gal 5:24 (the King James Version affection). The fixing of the exact force in any of these cases is a delicate problem fully discussed in the commentaries. In Col 3:5 only does passion stand as an isolated term. The context here perhaps gives the word a slight sexual reference, but this must not be overstressed; the warning probably includes any violent over-emotion that robs a man of his self-control. See AFFECTION; MOTION.