01.045. SPECIAL STUDY: ON THE WORD “RELIGION”
SPECIAL STUDY: ON THE WORD “RELIGION” A few remarks are in order here about the etymology of the word, “religion.”
Cicero (De Natura Deorum, 2, 28, 72) derives it from the Latin third-conjugation verb relego, relegere, meaning “to go over again,” that is, in reading, in speech, or in thought, “to consider carefully,” and hence, as used by him—Cicero—to mean “reverent observance” (of duties to the gods). Although this may have been the pagan notion of the word, certainly it is not the Biblical meaning of it.
According to Lactantius (Divina Instituta, 4, 28) and Augustine (Retractiones, 1, 13), “religion” derives from the first-conjugation Latin verb, religo, religare, meaning “to bind back,” “to bind anew,” etc. Harper’s Latin Dictionary (Andrews’ Freund, revised by Lewis and Short) has this to say (s.v.): “Modern etymologists mostly agree with this latter view, assuming as root, lig, to bind, whence also lictor, lex, and ligare; hence, religio sometimes means the same as obligatio.” The close relationship of the family of words formed around the root lig (ligament, ligature, oblige, etc.) to that formed around the root leg (lex, legis, “law,” legislate, legal, etc.) is too obvious to be ignored. These two families of words both have the connotation of a binding force. Whatever the word “religion” may have meant to the pagan world, the fact remains that the essence of Biblical religion is a binding of a person anew to God (healing of the schism caused by sin: the God of the Bible is the covenant God), and is fully expressed in the word “reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). As a consequence of this healing through regeneration and continuous sanctification, the righteous person ultimately attains holiness (from holon, “whole), which is wholeness or perfection (that is, completeness, from per plus facere, “to make thorough, complete”). Matthew 5:48—“Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The attainment of this perfection is consummated, of course, in the ultimate redemption of the body (Romans 8:18-24; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Php 3:20-21, etc.).