Study a Greek word through the KJV

2.3. Study a Greek word through the KJV
2.3.1. Greek words for crown
In Revelation 19:12, John described a person who sat on a white horse. According to John there were many ‘crowns’ on his head. What is the meaning of ‘crowns’ in this verse? In Revelation 6:2 there was another person on a white horse. A ‘crown’ was given to that rider as well. Are these crowns the same? We cannot establish that by looking at the English bible. If we look at the Strong’s number for these two crowns, we will see that they are not the same. In Revelation 19:12 the number is G1238 and in Revelation 6:2 it is G4735. Strong’s dictionary and Thayer’s Greek Definitions will give us the Greek words and their basic meaning. Thayer’s definition is more detailed than Strong’s.
In Revelation 19:12, the word is diadēma (G1238). Thayer has the following definitions for the word:
a) A blue band marked with white, which Persian kings used to bind on the turban or tiara
b) The kingly ornament for the head, the crown
In Revelation 6:2 the word (G4735) is stephanos. Thayer has the following definitions for this word:
a) A mark of royal or (in general) exalted rank. The wreath or garland which was given as a prize to victors in public games
b) Metaphorically the eternal blessedness which will be given as a prize to the genuine servants of God and Christ: the crown (wreath) which is the reward of the righteousness
c) That which is an ornament and honour to one
In his exposition of synonyms in the Greek New Testament Archbishop Richard Trench explained in detail the differences between these two crowns. He also explained what a diadēma looked like. He said:
In classical literature stephanos does not denote the kingly or imperial crown. Instead, it refers to the crown that symbolized victory in the games, civic worth, military valour, nuptial joy, and festal gladness … In the New Testament, Paul always used stephanos to refer to the conqueror's, not the king's, crown … A diadēma was a ‘token of kingdom,’ a white linen band or fillet that encircled the brow.
This distinction was clearly there. Was this distinction also made during the time of Biblical Greek? Robertson made the following remarks while commenting on Revelation 4:4:
John uses diadēma (diadem) for the kingly crown in Rev12:3; Rev13:1; Rev19:12, but it is not certain that the old distinction between diadem as the kingly crown and stephanos as the victor’s wreath is always observed in late Greek.
Robertson’s warning should be taken into consideration. Yet, the student can do a little more research. How is diadēma used in the New Testament? A quick search for the Strong’s number (G1238) reveals that the word appears three times, all three times in the book of Revelation, namely: Revelation 12:3; Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:12. Who are the ones wearing the diadēma? In Revelation 12:3, it is the red dragon that had seven crowns (diadēma) on its seven heads. In 13:1, it was the beast with ten crowns (diadēma) on its ten horns. Finally in Revelation 19:12, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who had many crowns. In the LXX, the word appears a few times as well. In the books of Esther (1:11; 2:17; 8:15) and Isaiah (62:3), the references are to the royal crown. What about the stephanos? I will limit my search to the book of Revelation, where the word appears eight times (Rev. 2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10; 6:2; 9:7; 12:1; 14:14). The stephanos was worn by the victorious believers (2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10), the woman (12:1), and Christ (14:14). The distinction made by Bishop Trench seems to be correct. The diadēma is the kingly crown and the stephanos is the victor’s crown. Trench’s explanation will also help us to see why it is possible for one person to have many kingly crowns as in Revelation 19. He said:
… the diadem strictly was a very different thing from what a crown now is or was; and it was no other than only a fillet of silk, linen, or some such thing. … Revelation 19:12 depicts Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, with the words ‘on his head were many crowns’. This phrase would be difficult to understand if the crowns were similar to those worn by present monarchs, but the meaning is immediately apparent if they are ‘diadems,’ the narrow fillets that encircle the brow.
This explanation is helpful indeed.
2.3.2. How to analyse a Greek verb
How do we analyse a Greek verb? The steps are the same as with the Old Testament verbs. For the New Testament I will take John 1:1. In the beginning ‘was’ the word. ‘Was’ has the following numbers: G2258 [G5713].
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According to Thayer’s definition, G2258 is the Greek word ‘ēn’, meaning ‘was’. Thayer refers to the root word for this verb, which is ‘eimi’, ‘to be’. TVM explains the code [G5713] as an Imperfect tense, indicative mood. The Imperfect according to the description ‘generally represents continual or repeated action’. However, the following comments were made about the verb ‘to be’.
In the case of the verb ‘to be’, however, the imperfect tense is used as a general past tense and does not carry the connotation of continual or repeated action.
What John is saying here is that the Word was there before the beginning. No matter how far back you go, the Word was. John did not say that the word came into existence in the beginning. Robertson explains the use of ‘was’ in this verse as follows:
Was (ēn). Three times in this sentence John uses this imperfect of eimi ‘to be’ which conveys no idea of origin for God or for the Logos, simply continuous existence. Quite a different verb (egeneto, became) appears in John 1:14 for the beginning of the Incarnation of the Logos. See the distinction sharply drawn in John 8:58 ‘before Abraham came (genesthai) I am’ (eimi, timeless existence).
These simple examples are enough to help the reader make use of the original languages resources in ES and TW.