ἐλέγχω ; fut. ἐλέγξω ; 1 aor. inf. ἐλέγξαι, impy. ἔλεγξον; [Pass., pres. ἐλέγχομαι ; 1 aor. ἐλέγχθην] ; Sept. for M37; 1. to convict, refute, confute, generally with a suggestion of the shame of the person convicted, [

ἐλέγχω elenchō 17x

to put to proof, to test; to convict, Jn. 8:46; Jas. 2:9; to refute, confute, 1 Cor. 14:24; Tit. 1:9; to detect, lay bare, expose, Jn. 3:20; Eph. 5:11, 13; to reprove, rebuke, Mt. 18:15; Lk. 3:19; 1 Tim. 5:20; to discipline, chastise, Heb. 12:5; Rev. 3:19; pass. to experience conviction, Jn. 3:20; 1 Cor. 14:24

ἐλέγχω

[in LXX chiefly for יָכַח hi. ;]

in Hom., to treat with contempt.

to convict: c. acc, Mt 18:15 (RV, show him his fault), Tit 1:9; seq. περί, Jo 8:46 16:8, Ju 15; pass., Ja 2:9.

to reprove, rebuke: I Ti 5:20, II Ti 4:2, Tit 1:13 2:15, Re 3:19; pass., seq. περί, Lk 3:19; ὑπό, He 12:5 (LXX).

to expose: Eph 5:11; pass., Jo 3:20, I Co 14:24 (RV reprove, mg. convict), Eph 5:13 (RV, as 1 Co, l.c., of. AR on Eph 5:11; MM, Exp., xii; cf. ἐξ-, δια-κατ-ελέγχομαι).†

SYN.: ἐπιτιμῶ, expressing simply rebuke, which may be un­deserved (Mt 16:22) or ineffectual (Lk 23:40), while ἐλ. implies rebuke which brings conviction (v. Tr., Syn., § iv)

OnE may ‘rebuke’ another without bringing the rebuked to a conviction of any fault on his part; and this, either because there was no fault, and the rebuke was therefore unneeded or unjust; or else because, though there was such fault, the rebuke was ineffectual to bring the offender to own it; and in this possibility of ‘rebuking’ for sin, without ‘ convincing’ of sin, lies the distinction between these two words. In ἐπιτιμᾶν lies simply the notion of rebuking ; which word can therefore be used of one unjustly checking or blaming another; in this sense Peter ‘began to rebuke’ his Lord (ἤρξατο ἐπιτιμᾶν, Matt. xvi. 22; cf. xix. 13; Luke xviii. 39):—or ineffectually, and without any profit to the person rebuked, who is not thereby brought to see his sin; as when the penitent robber ‘rebuked ’ (ἐπετίμα) his fellow malefactor (Luke xxiii. 40; cf. Mark ix. 25). But ἐλέγχειν is a much more pregnant word ; it is so to rebuke another, with such effectual wielding of the victorious arms of the truth, as to bring him, if not always to a confession, yet at least to a conviction, of his sin (Job v. 17; Prov. xix. 25), just as in juristic Greek, ἐλέγχειν is not merely to reply to, but to refute, an opponent. When we keep this distinction well in mind, what a light does it throw on a multitude of passages in the N. T.; and how much deeper a meaning does it give them. Thus our Lord could demand, “ Which of you convinceth (ἐλέγχει) Me of sin?” (John viii..46). Many ‘rebuked ’ Him; many laid sin to his charge (Matt. ix. 3; John ix. 16) ; but none brought sin home to his conscience. Other passages also will gain from realizing the fulness of the meaning of ἐλέγχειν, as John iii. 20; viii. 9; 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25; Heb. xii. 5; butaboveall, the great passage, John xvi. 8; “ When He [the Comforter] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg14 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. ὃ ιν. ment:” for so we have rendered the words, following in our ‘reprove’ the Latin ‘ arguet ;’ although few, I think, that have in any degree sought to sound the depth of our Lord’s words, but will admit that ‘convince,’ which unfortunately our Translators have relegated to the margin, or ‘convict,’ would have been the preferable rendering, giving a depth and fulness of meaning to this work of the Holy Ghost, which ‘ reprove’ in some part fails to express.’ “Ἢρ who shall come in my room, shall so bring home to the world its own ‘sin,’ my perfect ‘ righteousness,’ God’s coming ‘judgment,’ shall so ‘ convince’ the world of these, that it shall be obliged itself to acknowledge them; and in this acknowledgement may find, shall be in the right way to find, its own blessedness and salvation.” See more on ἐλέγχειν in Pott’s Wurzel-Worterbuch, vol. iii. p. 720. Between αἰτία and ἔλεγχος, which last in the N. T. is found only twice (Heb. xi. 1; 2 Tim. iii. 16), a difference of a similar character exists. Airéa is an accusation, but whether false or true the word does not attempt to anticipate ; and thus it could be applied, indeed it was applied, to the accusation made against the Lord of Glory Himself (Matt. xxvii. 37); but Z\eyyos implies not merely the charge, but the truth of the charge, and further the manifestation of the truth of the charge; nay more than all this, very often also the acknowledgment, if not outward, yet inward, of its truth on the part of the accused ; it being the glorious prerogative of the truth in its highest operation not merely to assert itself, and to silence the adversary, but to silence him by convincing him of his error. Thus Job can say of God, ἀλήθεια καὶ ἔλεγχος παρ᾽ ? Lampe gives excellently well the force of this ἐλέγξει : ‘Opus Doetoris, qui veritatern que hactenus non est agnita ita ad conscientiam etiam renitentis demonstrat, ut victas dare manus cogatur. See an admirable discussion on the word, especially as here used, in Archdeacon Hare's Mission of the Comforter, ist edit. pp. 528-544. αὐτοῦ (xxiii. 7): and Demosthenes (Con. Androt. p. 600) ; Πάμπολυ λοιδορία τεκαὶα ἐτί α κεχωρισμένον ἐστὶν ἐλέγχου αἰτία μὲν γάρ ἐστιν, ὅταν τις ψιλῷ χρησάμενος λόγῳ μὴ παράσχηται πίστιν, ὧν λέγει' ἔλεγχος δέ, ὅταν ὧν ἂν εἴπῃ Tis καὶ τἀληθὲς ὁμοῦ δείξη. Cf. Aristotle (Rhet. ad Alez. 13): ἔλεγχος ἔστι μὲν ὃ μὴ δυνατὸν aAdws ἔχειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως, ὡς ἡμεῖς λέγομεν. By our serviceable distinction between ‘ convict’ and ‘ convince’ we maintain a difference between the judicial and the moral ἔλεγχος. Both indeed will flow together into one in the last day, when every condemned sinner will be at once ‘convicted’ and ‘ convinced ; ᾿ which all is implied in that “‘ he was speechless ” of the guest found without a marriage garment (Matt. xxii. 12; cf. Rom. iii. 4).

ἐλέγχω. For the meaning ‘‘convict,” i.e. bring to light the true character of a man and his conduct, as in the Fourth Gospel (3°, 846, 16%), see the citation from BGU IV. 1138 «οὐ. ἔλεγχος, and cf. P Amh II. 3355 (c. B.c. 157) ἐὰν δέ τις τῶν καταβλαπτόντων Tas προσόδους ἐλεγχθῆι συνηγορήσας περὶ πράγματός τινος, αὐτόν τε πρὸς ἡμᾶς μετὰ φυλακῆς ἐπιστείAare, ““1{ any of these who are injuring the revenues is in the future convicted of having acted as advocate in any case, send him to us under arrest ” (Edd.), P Strass I. 41 (a.p. 250) οἵτι]νες δύνανται ἐκείνους ἐλέγξαι. In a Lycian inser. JAS xxxiv. p. 14, No. 1839 we find ὁ ἐλένξας = ‘‘ the prosecutor.” For the milder sense ‘‘ expose,” ‘‘set forth,” which best suits this word in 1 Cor 1474, Eph 514 (where see Robinson’s note), cf. such a passage from the vernacular as P Hib I. 55% (B.C. 250) mapayevod eis Ταλαὼν ἤδη ἄγων καὶ τὸν ποιμένα Tov ἐλέγξοντα περὶ ὧν pot εἶπας, ‘‘come to Talao at once, and bring with you the shepherd in order that he may give evidence in the matter about which you told me” (Edd.): see also P Oxy 11. 237¥ii 49 (a.p. 186) tv’ εἴ τις γένοιτο ζήτησις εἰς ὕστερον περὶ τῶν μὴ δεόντως ἀπογραψαμένων ἐξ ἐκείνων ἐλεγχθῶσι, ‘‘may supply the proofs.” In 26. 88. we have καὶ ἐκέλευ[σεϊν δι’ [ἑρ]μηνέως αὐτὴν ἐνεχθῆν[α]ι, τί βούλεται, where the editors understand ἐνεχθῆναι as a corruption of ἐλεγχθῆναι and translate ‘‘and he ordered that she should be asked through an interpreter what was her choice”: cf. P Tebt II. 29717 (c. a.p. 123) ἔγραψας τῷ στρατηγῷ ἐλ[έγξαν]τα δηλῶσαί σοι, “you wrote to the strategus to make an inquiry, and state the (Edd. ).

ἐλέγχω (elegchō) — to rebuke. ἐλέγχω, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future ἐλέγξω [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἤλεγξα [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, future ἐλεγχθήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἠλέγχθην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect ἐλήλεγμαι [Refs] is falsa lectio in [Refs 5th c.BC+]: pluperfect ἐξ-ελήλεγκτο [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—disgrace, put to shame, μῦθον ἐ. treat a speech with contempt, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐ. τινά put one to shame, [Refs 8th c.BC+] —This usage is only _Epic dialect_

II. cross-examine, question, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with accusative et infinitive, accuse one of doing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, to be convicted, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with participle, ἐλεγχθεὶς διαφθείρας [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. test, bring to the proof, ἀνδρῶν ἀρετὰν παγκρατὴς ἐλέγχει ἀλάθεια [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πρᾶγμ᾽ ἐ. [Refs 4th c.BC+] (passive, τὸ πρᾶγμ᾽ ἐλεγχθέν [Refs 5th c.BC+] (passive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.3. prove, τοῦτο ἐ. ὡς.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]: absolutely, bring convincing proof, ὡς ἡ ἀνάγκη ἐ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον ἐ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.4. refute, confute, τινά or τι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χρυσὸς κληῖδας ἐλέγχει proves that they avail not, [Refs]

II.4. b put right, correct, prove by a reductio ad impossibile, ὅσα ἔστιν ἀποδεῖξαι, ἔστι καὶ ἐλέγξαι τὸν θέμενον τὴν ἀντίφασιν τοῦ ἀληθοῦς [Refs 4th c.BC+]; παράδοξα ἐ. [Refs]

II.5. get the better of, στρατιὰν ὠκύτατι ἐ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.6. expose, τινὰ ληροῦντα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; betray a weakness, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

II.7. decide a dispute, ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο [LXX]