G263 ἀμάραντος (amárantos)

ἀμάραντος, -ov, (fr. papaivw; cf. ἀμίαντος. ἄφαντος, etc.), not fading away, unfading, perennial; Vulg. immarcescibilis; (hence the name of the flower, [Diose. 4, 57, al.]; see duapdvtwos): 1 Pet. i. 4. Found elsewhere only in Sap. vi. 13; [ζωὴ dap. Sibyll. 8, 411; Boeckh, Corp. Inserr. ii. p. 1124, no. 2942 ο, 4; Leian. Dom. ec. 97.

ἀμάραντος amarantos 1x

unfading; hence, enduring, 1 Pet. 1:4*

**† ἀμάραντος, -ον

(< μαραίνομαι), [in LXX: Wi 6:12 (σοφία)*;]

unfading (whence ὁ ἀ., the amaranth, an unfading flower): I Pe 1:4 (cf. MM, VGT, s.v.).†

Ir is a remarkable testimony to the reign of sin, and therefore of imperfection, of decay, of death, throughout this whole fallen world, that as often as we desire to set forth the glory, purity, and perfection of that other higher world towards which we strive, we are almost inevitably compelled to do this by the aid of negatives, by the denying to that higher order of things the leading features and characteristics of this. Such is signally the case in a passage wherein two of the words with which we are now dealing occur. St. Peter, magnifying the inheritance reserved in heaven for the faithful (1 Pet. 1 4), does this,—and he had hardly any choice in the matter,—by aid of three negatives; by affirming that it is ἄφθαρτος,, or without our corruption ; that it 15 ἀμίαντος, or without our defilement ; that it is ἀμάραντος, or without our withering and fading away. He can only set forth what it is by declaring what it is not. Of these three, however, I set one, namely ἀμίαντος, aside, the distinction between it and the others being too evident to leave them fair subjects of synonymous discrimination. ἔἜΛφθαρτος, a word of the later Greek, is not once found in the Septuagint, and only twice in the Apocrypha (Wisd. xii. 1; xviii. 4). Properly speaking, God only is ἄφθαρτος, the heathen theology recognizing this not less clearly than the Biblical. Thus Plutarch (De Repugn. Stoic. 88) quotes the grand saying of the Stoic philosopher, Antipater of Tarsus, Θεὸν νοοῦμεν ζῶον μακάριον καὶ ἄφθαρτον: ef. Diogenes Laértius, x. 1. 81.189. And in agreement with this we find the word by him associated with ἰσόθεος (Ne Suav. Viv. Posse, 7), with ἀίδιος (Adv. Colot. 18), with ἀνέκλειπτος (De Def. Orac. 51), with ἀγέννητος (De Repugn. Stoic. 88), with ἀγένητος (De Lr ap. Delph. 19), with ἀπαθής (De Def. Orac. 20) ; so, too, with ὀλύμπιος by Philo (quod Det. Pot. Ins. 23), and with other epithets corresponding. ‘Immortal’ we have rendered it on one occasion (1 Tim. i. 17); but there is a clear distinction 238 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT § Lxvil between it and ἀθάνατος or ὃ ἔχων ἀθανασίαν (1 Tim. vi. 16); and ‘ incorruptible,’ by which we have given it in other places (1 Cor. ix. 25; xv. 52; 1 Pet. i. 23), is to be preferred; the word predicating of God that He is exempt from that wear and waste and final perishing ; that φθορά, which time, and sin working in time, bring about in all which is outside of Him and to which He has not communicated of his own ἀφθαρσία (1 Cor. xv. 52; cf. Isai. li. 6; Heb. i. 10-12). ᾿Αμάραντος occurs only once in the N. T. (1 Pet. i. 4); once also in the Apocrypha, being joined there with λαμπρός (Wisd. vi. 12); and ἀμαράντινος not oftener (1 Pet. v. 4). There may well be a question whether ἀμαράντινος, an epithet given to a crown, should not be rendered ‘of amaranths.’ We, however, have made no distinction between the two, having rendered both by the same circumlocution, ‘that fadeth not away’; our Translators no doubt counting ‘ immarcescible ’—a word which has found favour with Bishops Hall and Taylor and with other scholarly writers of the seventeenth century—too much of an ‘inkhorn term’ to be admitted into our English Bible. Even the Rheims Translators, with ‘immarcescibilis’ in the Vulgate before them, have not ventured upon it. In this ἀμάραντος there is affirmed of the heavenly inheritance that it is exempt from that swift withering which is the portion of all the loveliness which springs out of an earthly root; the most exquisite beauty which the natural world can boast, that, namely, of the flower, being also the shortest-lived (‘breve lilium’), the quickest to fall away and fade and die (Job xiv. 2; Ps. MExvil: 2° Cli 1: isa. xl 6, ἡ: Matt. vi. 80- Jams 10. 11; 1 Pet. i. 24). All this is declared to find no place in that inheritance of unfading loveliness, reserved for the faithful in heaven. If, indeed, it be asked wherein ἄφθαρτος and ἀμάραντος differ, what the latter predicates concerning this heavenly inheritance which the former had not claimed already, the answer must be that essentially it claims nothing; yet with all this in ἀμάραντος is contained so to speak, a pledge that §LxIx SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 239 the more delicate grace, beauty, and bloom which it owns will as little wither and wane as will its solid and substantial worth depart. Not merely decay and corruption cannot touch it; but it shall wear its freshness, brightness, and beauty for ever. Hstius: ‘ Immarcescibilis est, quia vigorem suum et eratiam, instar amaranti floris, semper retinet, ut nullo unquam tempore possessori fastidium tediumve subrepat.’ S lxix. peravoéw, μεταμέλομαι.

ἀμάραντος. With the use of this adjective in 1 Pet 14 κληρονομίαν . - ἀμάραντον may be compared a passage in the Apocaly)se of Peter 5, καὶ ὁ κύριος ἔδειξέ μοι... τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν ἀνθοῦσαν ἀμαράντοις ἄνθεσι. See also a poem engraved on ἃ sepulchral monument erected by Euergetes II. (B.c. 145-16), in honour of his wife Aphrodisia, where the following words occur, μένοιτ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆς ἀμάραντοι, ὅσσον ἐγὼ vatwr δώματα Φερσεφόνης (Archiv i. 220). Wisd 6™ reinforces this rare Petrine word (cf. ἀμαράντινος 5%) : for its outside record see Thayer, who quotes C/G II. 2942 (c)4, a iii/iv A.D. inscription ona gladiator’s tomb, ending ἔσχ[α] té[Aos] βιότου χερσὶν φονίαις ἀμάραντον]. It isa proper name in P Ryl II. 166” (A.D. 26) Datos ᾿Ιούλιος ᾿Αμαρ[ά]ντου.

ἀμάραντος (amarantos) — unfading. ἀμάραντος [ᾰμᾰ], ον, (μαραίνω) unfading, λειμών[NT+2nd c.AD+]; πνεῦμα probably in [Refs]: neuter plural as adverb, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. substantive ἀμάραντον, τό (but in Latin amarantus), never-fading flower, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; ={ἑλίχρυσον}, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; ={κενταύρειον μικρόν}, Ps.-[Refs 1st c.AD+]; ={χρυσοκόμη}. [Refs]