Greek Influence

G2962

Pagan source. The title of emperors and of gods such as Serapis. “Caesar is lord” was the loyalty oath believers refused (Martyrdom of Polycarp 8.2).

Hebrew beneath. The Name, Yahuah (H3068), replaced about 6,800 times; and adon (H113), master. Hosea 2:16 forbids “Baali,” my lord.

What it fed. The loss of the Name, and a Father and Son both called “Lord” until the reader cannot tell them apart.

The bridge. Matthew 22:44 quotes Psalm 110:1 — the Greek kurios stands where the Hebrew has the Name.

G2316

Pagan source. The ordinary word for Zeus, Hermes, and the deified emperors. At Lystra the crowd called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius (Acts 14:11–12).

Hebrew beneath. Elohim (H430), a title of rank and authority, used even of Moses and the judges (Exodus 7:1; Psalm 82:6).

What it fed. A word of divine nature in place of a word of authority given by Yahuah.

The bridge. Matthew 22:32 quotes Exodus 3:6 — theos for Elohim.

G4990

Pagan source. Zeus Sōtēr; Ptolemy I Sōtēr, under whose son the Septuagint was made; emperors hailed as savior of the world.

Hebrew beneath. Yasha (H3467): “beside me there is no saviour” (Isaiah 43:11).

What it fed. The title of god-kings moved to the Son, and the name that declares “Yahuah saves” lost its meaning.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Habakkuk 3:18 puts sōtēr for yesha, “the Elohim of my salvation.”

G3841

Pagan source. An epithet of gods in Greek religious texts; Isis was praised as the all-ruling one. Later the title of the Christ Pantocrator icon, enthroned like Zeus.

Hebrew beneath. Tsebaoth (H6635), hosts. The Septuagint turned “Yahuah of hosts” into “Lord Almighty,” removing the Name and the hosts together.

What it fed. The Name dropped from its most common title, and a throne-image of the Son built on the word.

The bridge. 2 Corinthians 6:18 draws on 2 Samuel 7:8 — “Lord Almighty” where the Hebrew has “Yahuah of hosts.”

G5310

Pagan source. Zeus Hypsistos and Theos Hypsistos were worshipped across the Greek east. The possessed slave girl of Acts 16:17 used the title.

Hebrew beneath. Elyon (H5945), the Most High, always joined to Yahuah in the Torah (Genesis 14:22).

What it fed. A title the pagan world shared, drawn away from the Name it was joined to.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 14:18 puts hypsistos for Elyon.

G5485

Pagan source. The Charites, goddesses of charm and beauty, daughters of Zeus (Hesiod, Theogony 907).

Hebrew beneath. Chen (H2580), favor found by walking in Yahuah’s way (Genesis 6:8; Exodus 33:13).

What it fed. A gift that sets the Law aside.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 6:8 puts charis for chen: “Noah found grace.”

G3551

Pagan source. In Greek thought nomos was custom and convention, the man-made rules of a city, set against physis, nature. The Sophists taught that nomos was arbitrary.

Hebrew beneath. Torah (H8451), instruction, teaching, the way to walk — from yarah, to aim or point the way.

What it fed. The Torah heard as a legal code of rules and penalties rather than a Father’s instruction. “Under the law” became a curse instead of a path.

The bridge. Romans 7:7 quotes Exodus 20:17 and calls it nomos — the Torah itself.

G5056

Pagan source. In Aristotle, the telos is the goal or purpose a thing is aimed at — its final cause.

Hebrew beneath. The aim of the Torah: righteousness. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness” (Romans 10:4) means He is its goal.

What it fed. The verse read as “termination,” the most quoted proof that the Law has ended. Here the Greek meaning is right and the English reading is wrong.

G1242

Pagan source. The Greek legal will, which takes effect at death and can be replaced by a later will (Hebrews 9:16–17).

Hebrew beneath. Berit (H1285), covenant, a binding agreement renewed and written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).

What it fed. “Old Testament” and “New Testament” — a superseded will and a replacement, rather than one covenant renewed.

The bridge. Hebrews 8:8–10 quotes Jeremiah 31:31–33 — diathēkē for berit.

G4747

Pagan source. The four elements of Greek physics, and later the astral spirits that ruled the stars and the calendar.

Hebrew beneath. Paul names them as the Galatians’ old pagan bondage: “how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements… Ye observe days, and months, and times” (Galatians 4:9–10).

What it fed. A verse about returning to pagan star-worship turned against the Sabbath and the feasts of Yahuah.

G3341

Pagan source. Metanoia was personified as a goddess of regret; Lucian describes her in Apelles’ painting Calumny, a mourning figure who follows too late.

Hebrew beneath. Shuv (H7725), to turn back — a return to the commandments (Deuteronomy 30:2; Ezekiel 18:21).

What it fed. Repentance reduced to a feeling of sorrow or a change of mind, with no return to the Law required.

G2588

Pagan source. In Homer the heart is the seat of passion and courage; Plato set reason in the head and the passions in the chest (Timaeus 69–70). The Greek heart feels.

Hebrew beneath. Lev (H3820), the seat of thought, understanding, and will — where the Torah is written: “these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6). “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9).

What it fed. “Follow your heart” and “God looks at the heart” — feeling set over the commandment.

The bridge. Hebrews 8:10 quotes Jeremiah 31:33 — kardia where Jeremiah has lev, the heart the Torah is written on.

G4893

Pagan source. A term of Greek moral philosophy, popular with the Stoics: an inner awareness that judges a man’s own deeds.

Hebrew beneath. Hebrew has no word for conscience. The standard is outside the man, written: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

What it fed. “Let your conscience be your guide” — an inner feeling in place of the written Torah; “I don’t feel convicted.”

The bridge. The Septuagint of Ecclesiastes 10:20 puts syneidēsis for madda, “thought.”

G4151

Pagan source. The breath that rose at Delphi and seized the priestess of Apollo (Strabo, Geography 9.3.5); for the Stoics, a fiery divine substance running through all things.

Hebrew beneath. Ruach (H7307), breath and wind, the power of Yahuah at work (Luke 1:35); the same ruach in man and beast (Ecclesiastes 3:19).

What it fed. Possession by a spirit that speaks through the worshipper; a third person of the Trinity; and the claim that the spirit of man lives on after death.

The bridge. Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28 — pneuma for ruach.

G4436

Pagan source. Acts 16:16 says the slave girl had “a spirit of Python” — the serpent of Delphi, Apollo’s oracle.

Hebrew beneath. The Torah forbids divination outright (Deuteronomy 18:10).

What it fed. The New Testament itself names Delphi as the source of ecstatic spirit-speech.

G4396

Pagan source. The temple official at Delphi who interpreted the priestess’s frenzied speech.

Hebrew beneath. Navi (H5030), who speaks plain words from Yahuah and is tested by Deuteronomy 13 and 18.

What it fed. Tongues followed by interpretation, and “prophetic words” never tested by the Torah.

The bridge. Acts 3:22 quotes Deuteronomy 18:15 — prophētēs for navi.

G1611

Pagan source. The “standing outside oneself” of Dionysian worship; Plato praised divine madness in the Phaedrus.

Hebrew beneath. Hebrew visions came to men fully awake and speaking with Yahuah (Numbers 12:6–8).

What it fed. Loss of self-control treated as proof of the Spirit.

G5486

Pagan source. From charis, the gift of the Graces.

Hebrew beneath. Gifts given by Yahuah for building up the assembly in order (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40).

What it fed. The “charismatic” movement — gifts defined by sensation rather than by edification and order.

G86

Pagan source. The god of the underworld and his realm of judgment and torment.

Hebrew beneath. Sheol (H7585), the silent grave: “the dead know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10).

What it fed. Conscious torment from the moment of death.

The bridge. Acts 2:27 quotes Psalm 16:10 — Hadēs where the psalm has Sheol.

G5020

Pagan source. Tartarus, the mythic prison where Zeus bound the Titans (2 Peter 2:4).

Hebrew beneath. No Hebrew counterpart; the word is purely Greek myth. The prophets say the wicked become “ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 4:3).

What it fed. A torture pit beneath the underworld.

G165, G166

Pagan source. Aion, god of endless time, whose virgin birth was celebrated at Alexandria on January 6 (Epiphanius, Panarion 51.22).

Hebrew beneath. Olam (H5769), an age whose end lies beyond sight (Exodus 21:6; Jonah 2:6).

What it fed. Punishment that never stops, rather than a punishment whose result never ends.

The bridge. Matthew 25:46 echoes Daniel 12:2 — aiōnios where Daniel has olam.

G126

Pagan source. Aristotle’s word for what has no beginning and no end.

Hebrew beneath. Jude 6 uses it of chains that hold the fallen “unto the judgment” — chains with an end date.

What it fed. Added weight to endless-torment readings.

G2851

Pagan source. From kolazō, to prune or cut off; Aristotle defines it as correction (Rhetoric 1.10).

Hebrew beneath. Karath (H3772), to be cut off from the people — the Torah’s penalty.

What it fed. “Everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46) read as endless suffering instead of permanent cutting off. Here the Greek meaning supports the Hebrew; the church reading departs from both.

G2709

Pagan source. The chthonic gods of the underworld; Homer calls Hades “Zeus Katachthonios” (Iliad 9.457).

Hebrew beneath. The grave, the dust (Genesis 3:19).

What it fed. A living population “under the earth” in Philippians 2:10.

G12

Pagan source. The bottomless deep of Greek cosmology.

Hebrew beneath. Tehom (H8415), the deep waters of Genesis 1:2.

What it fed. A literal pit of fire beneath the earth.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 1:2 puts abyssos for tehom.

G605

Pagan source. Stoic cosmic restoration: the world burned and remade in endless cycles. Origen taught a final restoration of all, the devil included (On First Principles 1.6); the teaching was condemned in 553.

Hebrew beneath. Peter’s “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21) — the kingdom restored to Israel and the earth renewed, while the wicked “shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 4:3).

What it fed. Universalism — every soul saved in the end, hell as a place of purifying. Like endless torment, it denies that the wicked are consumed.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Malachi 4:6 uses apokathistēmi for shuv: “he shall turn the heart of the fathers.”

G5590

Pagan source. Psyche, the butterfly goddess of myth; Plato’s undying soul, imprisoned in the body and freed at death (Phaedo).

Hebrew beneath. Nephesh (H5315), a living creature that can die (Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 18:4).

What it fed. The immortal soul — and with it hell as endless torment, going to heaven at death, and a judgment at death before the Judgment.

The bridge. Acts 2:27 quotes Psalm 16:10 — psychē where the psalm has nephesh.

G110

Pagan source. The gods were “the athanatoi,” the deathless ones. Immortality was what made a god a god.

Hebrew beneath. Scripture gives immortality to Yahuah alone (1 Timothy 6:16), and to men only at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:53).

What it fed. Man given the defining mark of a Greek god.

G1140

Pagan source. Guardian spirits and the souls of the dead (Hesiod, Works and Days 121–126).

Hebrew beneath. Shedim (H7700), the false gods behind idols (Deuteronomy 32:17).

What it fed. Wandering spirits of the departed.

The bridge. 1 Corinthians 10:20 quotes Deuteronomy 32:17 — daimonia for shedim.

G5326

Pagan source. A ghost or apparition of the dead.

Hebrew beneath. The disciples’ fear on the water (Matthew 14:26) — a Greek superstition Yahushua corrected.

What it fed. The belief that the dead return as visible spirits.

G3563

Pagan source. Anaxagoras’ cosmic Mind that orders the universe; for Plato the reasoning part of the soul is its divine, undying part; Aristotle called the active mind alone “immortal and eternal” (On the Soul 3.5).

Hebrew beneath. Man thinks with his lev, and dies whole: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4).

What it fed. The mind that survives death — consciousness carried on without the body.

The bridge. Romans 11:34 quotes Isaiah 40:13 — nous where Isaiah has ruach.

In Immortal Soul: when the soul argument fails, the same undying self is moved from psychē to pneuma — “the spirit lives on.”

G4151

Pagan source. The breath that rose at Delphi and seized the priestess of Apollo (Strabo, Geography 9.3.5); for the Stoics, a fiery divine substance running through all things.

Hebrew beneath. Ruach (H7307), breath and wind, the power of Yahuah at work (Luke 1:35); the same ruach in man and beast (Ecclesiastes 3:19).

What it fed. Possession by a spirit that speaks through the worshipper; a third person of the Trinity; and the claim that the spirit of man lives on after death.

The bridge. Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28 — pneuma for ruach.

G3952

Pagan source. The technical term for the state visit of a king or emperor to a city.

Hebrew beneath. The day of Yahuah — one day (Joel 2:31; Malachi 4:5).

What it fed. Dispensational teaching splits parousia from epiphaneia to create a secret rapture and a later return.

G2015

Pagan source. The manifestation of a god in power; Antiochus IV took the name Epiphanes, “god made manifest.”

Hebrew beneath. The glory of Yahuah appearing, and “all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).

What it fed. Used with parousia to build two separate comings.

G3772

Pagan source. The sky god of Hesiod’s Theogony; Plato’s soul returning to its star (Timaeus 42b).

Hebrew beneath. Shamayim (H8064), Yahuah’s throne; “the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16).

What it fed. The soul flying to heaven at death.

The bridge. Acts 7:49 quotes Isaiah 66:1 — ouranos for shamayim.

G3857

Pagan source. A Persian royal park, adopted by the Greeks; it came to name the garden of the blessed dead.

Hebrew beneath. Gan (H1588), the garden of Eden, restored on the earth (Revelation 2:7; 22:1–2).

What it fed. A heavenly waiting room for souls, built on Luke 23:43.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 2:8 puts paradeisos for gan.

G3107

Pagan source. In Homer the makares are the gods themselves; the Isles of the Blessed were the Greek heaven for heroes (Hesiod, Works and Days 171).

Hebrew beneath. Ashrei (H835), “happy is the man” who walks in the Torah (Psalm 1:1).

What it fed. “The blessed dead” pictured as already enjoying heaven.

The bridge. Romans 4:7–8 quotes Psalm 32:1–2 — makarios for ashrei.

G3056

Pagan source. Heraclitus’ cosmic reason; the Stoic divine reason; Philo’s “second god” (Questions on Genesis 2.62); Justin Martyr’s “another God and Lord” (Dialogue with Trypho 56).

Hebrew beneath. Davar (H1697), the spoken word of Yahuah: “by the word of Yahuah were the heavens made” (Psalm 33:6).

What it fed. A second divine person beside the Father.

G2320, G2305

Pagan source. To theion, “the divine,” was the philosophers’ term for divine essence. Paul uses it on the Areopagus when speaking to Greeks (Acts 17:29).

Hebrew beneath. The fullness of Yahuah dwelling in the Son by the Father’s pleasure (Colossians 1:19).

What it fed. “Godhead” as a shared divine substance in three persons (Colossians 2:9).

G3776

Pagan source. Aristotle’s word for essence, the “what it is” of a thing. In the New Testament it means only “goods” (Luke 15:12–13).

Hebrew beneath. Never used of Yahuah anywhere in Scripture.

What it fed. Homoousios, “of one substance,” the key word of the Nicene Creed (325).

G5287

Pagan source. Plotinus the Neoplatonist taught three primal hypostases: the One, the Mind, and the Soul (Enneads 5.1).

Hebrew beneath. “The express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3) — the Son as the exact likeness of the Father. “Hear, O Israel: Yahuah our Elohim is one Yahuah” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

What it fed. Three hypostases in one God, the formula of the Council of Constantinople (381).

G5449

Pagan source. The central term of Greek natural philosophy.

Hebrew beneath. “Partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) — said of believers, and no one calls them God.

What it fed. The “two natures” of Chalcedon (451).

G3439

Pagan source. Plato calls the cosmos monogenēs, the one-of-a-kind offspring (Timaeus 92c).

Hebrew beneath. Yachid (H3173), only, unique — Isaac, Abraham’s only son (Genesis 22:2), born in time.

What it fed. “Eternally begotten of the Father before all ages” (Nicene Creed).

The bridge. Hebrews 11:17 calls Isaac monogenēs, drawing on Genesis 22:2 — yachid.

G3444

Pagan source. Aristotle’s form, the essence that makes a thing what it is.

Hebrew beneath. “Who, being in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6) — the likeness of the image given to Adam (Genesis 1:26).

What it fed. Proof offered that the Son shares the divine essence.

G5215

Pagan source. Songs sung to the gods — the Homeric Hymns to Apollo, Demeter, and Hermes.

Hebrew beneath. Tehillim, the Psalms, the songs Yahuah gave His people.

What it fed. Man-made hymns that teach the Trinity in their verses.

The bridge. Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22 — hymneō for halal, “praise.”

G4678

Pagan source. Philo’s Wisdom beside God; in Gnostic teaching Sophia became a divine being, one of the aeons. Justin Martyr read the Wisdom of Proverbs 8 as a second divine person (Dialogue with Trypho 61).

Hebrew beneath. Chokmah (H2451), wisdom — Yahuah’s own: “Yahuah by wisdom hath founded the earth” (Proverbs 3:19). Proverbs 8 pictures her as a woman calling in the streets; Proverbs 9 does the same with Folly. Neither is a person.

What it fed. Proverbs 8 used to prove an eternal second person; Hagia Sophia, the “Holy Wisdom” church.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Proverbs 8:1 puts sophia for chokmah.

G1217

Pagan source. Plato’s Demiurge, the craftsman-god who shapes the world (Timaeus 28a). Philo and the early fathers made the Logos a second agent through whom the highest God created.

Hebrew beneath. “I am Yahuah that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself” (Isaiah 44:24). The one New Testament use is of Yahuah Himself: “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

What it fed. A second divine craftsman beside the Father doing the work of creation.

G3875

Pagan source. A legal advocate in the Greek courts, one called to stand beside the accused.

Hebrew beneath. Menachem, comforter, from nacham (H5162): “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people” (Isaiah 40:1). John calls the Son the paraklētos — “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1) — and Yahushua says of the Comforter, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).

What it fed. The chief proof offered that the Spirit is a third person.

In The Trinity: Tertullian’s “economy” — one God arranged into three.

G3622

Pagan source. Household management. Tertullian used “the economy” to describe God arranged into three (Against Praxeas 2–3); John Darby later built separate “dispensations” on it.

Hebrew beneath. Stewardship: “a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me” (1 Corinthians 9:17).

What it fed. Darby’s seven dispensations, each with different terms of salvation (Ephesians 1:10; 3:2).

G40, G53

Pagan source. Temple sanctity and ritual purity before a Greek god; Artemis was praised as hagnē, the pure one.

Hebrew beneath. Qadosh (H6918), set apart by obedience, tied directly to clean food (Leviticus 11:44; 20:25–26).

What it fed. Holiness as a rank (canonized saints) or a feeling (a “position in Christ”), with nothing required of the plate.

The bridge. 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus 11:44 — hagios for qadosh, the verse that closes the food laws.

G5046

Pagan source. The mystery religions called their fully initiated members teleioi, “the perfected,” after the final rite.

Hebrew beneath. Tamim (H8549), whole, upright — “walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1).

What it fed. Perfection as a second experience — the Holiness movement’s “entire sanctification” — rather than a whole-hearted walk.

The bridge. Matthew 5:48 draws on Deuteronomy 18:13 — teleios for tamim.

G2540

Pagan source. Kairos was a god, youngest son of Zeus, with an altar at Olympia (Pausanias 5.14.9) and a famous statue by Lysippos.

Hebrew beneath. Moed (H4150), an appointed meeting: “these are my feasts” (Leviticus 23:2).

What it fed. The appointed feasts heard as “seasons” or “opportunities” rather than set meetings with Yahuah.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 1:14 puts kairoi for moadim.

G2960

Pagan source. In the province of Asia, a day each month called Sebastē, “Emperor’s Day,” honored the ruler.

Hebrew beneath. The Sabbath, which Yahuah calls “my holy day” (Isaiah 58:13).

What it fed. “The Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10) claimed as Sunday.

G1859

Pagan source. The Greek word for a religious festival of the gods.

Hebrew beneath. Chag (H2282) and moed, feasts commanded and dated in Leviticus 23.

What it fed. Church “holy days” treated as interchangeable with the feasts of Yahuah.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Leviticus 23 puts heortē for chag.

G3957

Pagan source. The KJV rendered pascha as “Easter” in Acts 12:4, the name of the Germanic spring goddess Eostre.

Hebrew beneath. Pesach (H6453): “it is Yahuah’s passover” (Exodus 12:11).

What it fed. The Pesach replaced by a goddess’s festival, its date set apart from the Hebrew reckoning at Nicaea (325).

The bridge. 1 Corinthians 5:7 — “Messiah our passover (pascha)” — pascha is Pesach.

G4005

Pagan source. A Greek label, “the fiftieth,” with no Torah content.

Hebrew beneath. Shavuot — seven Sabbaths complete, then fifty days, falling in summer (Leviticus 23:15–16).

What it fed. A feast detached from its count and moved to late spring.

G4102

Pagan source. The goddess Pistis, who the poet Theognis said had left the earth; the Roman Fides on the Capitoline.

Hebrew beneath. Emunah (H530), steadfastness proven by conduct — Moses’ hands “steady” (Exodus 17:12).

What it fed. Mental agreement that saves without a walk.

The bridge. Romans 1:17 quotes Habakkuk 2:4 — pistis for emunah.

G2098

Pagan source. The Priene inscription (9 BC) called the birthday of the god Augustus “good tidings” for the world.

Hebrew beneath. Besorah (H1309), the reign of Yahuah: “Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7).

What it fed. A birth announcement with no kingdom and no Law.

The bridge. Romans 10:15 quotes Isaiah 52:7 — euangelizō for basar.

G3466

Pagan source. The secret rites of Eleusis, Isis, and Mithras, which saved the initiated.

Hebrew beneath. Sod (H5475), the plan now revealed: “he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

What it fed. Sacraments that dispense favor, and doctrines placed beyond question as “a mystery.”

The bridge. The Septuagint of Daniel 2:18–19 puts mystērion for raz.

G2169

Pagan source. From charis. By the second century it named the sacred meal itself, the sacrament.

Hebrew beneath. The blessing over bread and cup at the table: “this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

What it fed. The Eucharist — favor received through a rite.

G3824

Pagan source. The Stoic rebirth of the cosmos after its fiery end; rebirth in the mystery cults.

Hebrew beneath. The restoration of all things at the return (Matthew 19:28; Acts 3:21).

What it fed. Instant “regeneration” at baptism or at a prayer (Titus 3:5).

G3529

Pagan source. The winged goddess of the Acropolis, honored by Rome as Victoria.

Hebrew beneath. Netsach (H5331), endurance for ever: “He will swallow up death for ever” (Isaiah 25:8).

What it fed. A finished triumph that asks no endurance of the believer.

The bridge. 1 Corinthians 15:54 quotes Isaiah 25:8 — nikos for netsach.

G1108

Pagan source. The root of Gnosticism: salvation by secret knowledge, with spirit good and the flesh worthless, so what the body does does not matter.

Hebrew beneath. Yada (H3045), to know by doing: “He judged the cause of the poor and needy… was not this to know me? saith Yahuah” (Jeremiah 22:16). “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar” (1 John 2:4).

What it fed. Salvation by knowing and agreeing — “just believe” — with nothing required of the walk.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Malachi 2:7 puts gnōsis for da’at: “the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.”

G1577

Pagan source. The voting assembly of a Greek city — used in Acts 19:32, 39, 41 of the Ephesian crowd. “Church” itself comes from kuriakon, “belonging to the lord.”

Hebrew beneath. Qahal (H6951), the assembly of Israel — “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38).

What it fed. A “church” separate from Israel, with its own age and its own rules.

The bridge. Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22 — ekklēsia for qahal.

G3622

Pagan source. Household management. Tertullian used “the economy” to describe God arranged into three (Against Praxeas 2–3); John Darby later built separate “dispensations” on it.

Hebrew beneath. Stewardship: “a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me” (1 Corinthians 9:17).

What it fed. Darby’s seven dispensations, each with different terms of salvation (Ephesians 1:10; 3:2).

G3718

Pagan source. A road-builder’s word: to cut a straight path.

Hebrew beneath. The Septuagint uses it for “he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

What it fed. 2 Timothy 2:15 read as “divide the Bible into separate ages” instead of “cut a straight path through the word.” The Greek here is plain; the English rendering made the doctrine.

G1343, G1349

Pagan source. Dikē was the goddess of justice; at Malta the islanders said of Paul, “vengeance (Dikē) suffereth not to live” (Acts 28:4). Rome worshipped her as Iustitia.

Hebrew beneath. Tsedaqah (H6666), righteousness done: “it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments” (Deuteronomy 6:25).

What it fed. A legal verdict transferred onto a record, rather than righteousness walked out.

The bridge. Romans 4:3 quotes Genesis 15:6 — dikaiosynē for tsedaqah.

G3049

Pagan source. An accountant’s word: to credit to an account.

Hebrew beneath. Chashav (H2803): Abraham believed, “and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6) — belief proven by obedience (Genesis 26:5).

What it fed. “Imputed righteousness” — a swapped record that leaves the life untouched.

The bridge. Romans 4:3 quotes Genesis 15:6 — logizomai for chashav.

G2434, G2435

Pagan source. Hilaskomai meant to appease an angry god with an offering (Homer, Iliad 1.147).

Hebrew beneath. Kaphar (H3722), to cover; kapporet, the mercy seat Yahuah Himself provided (Exodus 25:22).

What it fed. The Son appeasing an angry Father — a Greek picture in place of Yahuah providing the covering Himself.

The bridge. Hebrews 9:5 uses hilastērion for the mercy seat, the kapporet.

G5459

Pagan source. The morning-star god, son of the dawn goddess Eos. The Septuagint put heōsphoros in Isaiah 14:12; Jerome’s Latin made it lucifer.

Hebrew beneath. Heylel (H1966), “shining one” — the boast of “the king of Babylon” (Isaiah 14:4, 12), whom the onlookers call “the man” (14:16).

What it fed. Lucifer the fallen angel — and the Messiah’s own title, which Jerome used of Him in 2 Peter 1:19, handed to the adversary.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Isaiah 14:12 puts heōsphoros for heylel.

G1404

Pagan source. The serpent-monsters of Greek myth: Python of Delphi, slain by Apollo, and Ladon, who guarded the golden apples.

Hebrew beneath. Tannin (H8577), a prophetic picture of an empire and its king — Pharaoh, “the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers” (Ezekiel 29:3).

What it fed. A literal winged dragon-devil in place of the prophets’ picture of beastly kingdoms.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Ezekiel 29:3 puts drakōn for tannin.

G2888

Pagan source. Greek astrology’s title for the planetary powers believed to rule human fate (Ephesians 6:12).

Hebrew beneath. Princes behind the nations (Daniel 10:13), answered by obedience and prayer: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

What it fed. Territorial spirits over cities, mapped and bound by name.

G32

Pagan source. The word means messenger; Greek art gave divine messengers wings — Hermes’ sandals, Nike and Eros.

Hebrew beneath. Malak (H4397), messengers who came looking like men (Genesis 18:2; 19:1, 5; Hebrews 13:2).

What it fed. Winged angels, and the dead “getting their wings.”

The bridge. Hebrews 1:7 quotes Psalm 104:4 — angelos for malak.

G4309

Pagan source. The word means to mark out a boundary beforehand. The church read it through Stoic heimarmenē — fate that nothing can change.

Hebrew beneath. Bachar (H977), to choose — and every man is told to choose: “therefore choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

What it fed. Predestination — and its working form in most churches: the blood without the walk.

G4307

Pagan source. Stoic providence, one with fate, so that nothing could have been otherwise (Zeno, Chrysippus); Athena was worshipped as Pronoia at Delphi.

Hebrew beneath. The “if” of Isaiah 1:19–20, and names blotted out of the book (Exodus 32:33; Revelation 3:5).

What it fed. Once saved, always saved.

G4716

Pagan source. In Greek an upright stake. The cross as a sacred sign began with Constantine: “in this sign conquer” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 1.28).

Hebrew beneath. Etz (H6086), tree — “he that is hanged is accursed” (Deuteronomy 21:23); the bronze serpent broken as Nehushtan when Israel worshipped it (2 Kings 18:4).

What it fed. The cross as an object of reverence — on steeples, necks, caps, and skin.

The bridge. Galatians 3:13 quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 and calls the stauros a tree.

G1504

Pagan source. Plato’s image of a heavenly form. The Second Council of Nicaea (787) argued that honor paid to an image passes to the one it shows.

Hebrew beneath. Pesel (H6459) and temunah (H8544), forbidden in worship: “ye saw no manner of similitude” (Deuteronomy 4:15–16).

What it fed. Icon veneration, and the painted face of Jesus on Protestant walls.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Genesis 1:26 puts eikōn for tselem.

G4742

Pagan source. The brand or tattoo of slaves and of a god’s devotees (Herodotus 2.113); Ptolemy IV ordered Jews branded with the ivy leaf of Dionysus (3 Maccabees 2:29).

Hebrew beneath. “Nor print any marks upon you: I am Yahuah” (Leviticus 19:28). Paul’s marks were scars from rods and stones (2 Corinthians 11:25; Galatians 6:17).

What it fed. Christian tattoos, and the “stigmata” of the saints.

G1985

Pagan source. The title of civic overseers in Greek cities. Ignatius (c. 110) set one bishop above the elders.

Hebrew beneath. Pakad (H6485), oversight as care (Numbers 4:16). Elders are not “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3).

What it fed. One bishop, or one senior pastor, over the assembly.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Numbers 4:16 calls Eleazar episkopos.

G2409

Pagan source. The servant of a Greek temple. Clement of Rome (c. 96) is the first to call ordinary believers laikos, “laymen.”

Hebrew beneath. Kohen (H3548); the whole nation is “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), and every believer “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).

What it fed. A priest class between the believer and Yahuah, and the laity as an audience.

The bridge. 1 Peter 2:9 draws on Exodus 19:6 — the kingdom of priests.

G4166

Pagan source. Homer calls kings like Agamemnon poimēn laōn, “shepherd of the people” — a ruler’s title over the crowd.

Hebrew beneath. Ro’eh (H7462): “Yahuah is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1); woe to the shepherds who feed themselves (Jeremiah 23:1; Ezekiel 34:2).

What it fed. The senior pastor — the Catholic priest under a Protestant title; “my pastor says.”

The bridge. Matthew 26:31 quotes Zechariah 13:7 — poimēn for ro’eh.

G331

Pagan source. Votive offerings hung up in Greek temples; from the fourth century, the curses closing the creeds of church councils.

Hebrew beneath. Cherem (H2764), something devoted to Yahuah (Joshua 6:17). Paul uses anathema for “any other gospel” (Galatians 1:8), not for disagreeing with a council.

What it fed. Excommunication by office, and creeds enforced by curse.

The bridge. The Septuagint of Joshua 6:17 puts anathema for cherem.