Laughing All the Way to the Bank
Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB
Cheerful – Did you know that there are at least 680 words in the New Testament that appear only one time? These are called hapax legomenon. They are particularly interesting for exegetes because often they require investigating the culture outside the biblical world in order to understand what they mean. The very famous occurrence in the Lord’s Prayer is the word usually translated “daily” in the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread.” The truth is that this word is so rare that no one really knows for certain how it should be translated. The book of Acts contains perhaps 400 of these one-time words, usually understandable from the cultures of first century Hellenism. What this means is that a lot of the New Testament books use language familiar to Greek-speaking audiences even if the theological themes are Hebraic. So, in order to truly appreciate what the apostles wrote, we will have to look at both Hebrew and Greek ideas. Paul use of the term hilarós is but one example.
In 2 Cor. 9:7 (in loose allusion to Prov. 22:9) Paul refers to the cheerfulness of generosity. The sense approximates to liberality (cf. Rom. 12:8). This cheerfulness contrasts with the grumbling and questioning of Phil. 2:14. Reception of God’s gift provides the motivation (cf. 1 Pet. 4:9–10).[1]
Notice that Bultmann’s explanation suggests a Hebraic context. When we look at Proverbs 22:9 (“One who is generous will be blessed, because he gives some of his food to the poor”), we find a Hebrew idiom. Literally, the verse reads, “One who has a good eye . . .” Perhaps because the idea in Hebrew is idiomatic, Paul chooses to use an unusual Greek word that captures the thought but not precisely the direct definition. By the way, Yeshua uses the same idiomatic expression in his teaching (Matthew 6:22-23). What we discover, and what every translator knows, is that idioms are particularly difficult to translate because they are so culturally specific. Try explaining to a non-native English speaker how “kick the bucket” came to mean “die.” Then consider what this means for the dozens of idioms used in Hebrew that need to be expressed in Greek. We learn that you can’t really read the apostles in Greek without recognizing their Hebraic background. And that should convince us that there is no justification for claiming that the New Testament is sufficient for faith. Handing someone the gospel of John without telling him that Yochanan was a Hebrew thinker distorts all the apostle wrote. The same holds true for Paul (Saul). In fact, Saul constantly cites passages (and alludes to others) from the Tanakh as justification for his arguments. Dismissing the Tanakh because it is a “Jewish” book is like erasing all the footnotes from a dissertation.
Now you’ll need to find a list of all the one-time words in the Bible. It’s long!
Topical Index: hapax legomenon, hilarós, cheerful, Proverbs 22:9, 2 Corinthians 9:7
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 362). W.B. Eerdmans.
