ἀκροβυστία,
-ας,
ἡ, (a word unknown to the Greeks, who used
ἡ ἀκροποσθία and
τὸ ἀκροπόσθιον, from
πόσθη i. e. membrum virile. Accordingly it is likely that
τὴν ποσθην of the Greeks was pronounced
τὴν βύστην by the Alexandrians, and
ἀκροβυστία said instead of
ἀκροποσθια —
i. e. τὸ ἄκρον τῆς πόσθης; cf. the acute remarks of Fritzsche, Commentary on Romans, vol. i., 136, together with the opinion which Winer prefers 99 (94) [and Cremer, 3te Aufl. under the word]), in the
Sept. the equivalent of
עָרְלָה the prepuce, the skin covering the glans penis;
a. properly:
Acts 11:3;
Romans 2:25,
26b;
1 Corinthians 7:19;
Galatians 5:6;
Galatians 6:15;
Colossians 3:11; (Judith 14:10; 1 Macc. 1:15);
ἐν ἀκροβυστία ὤν having the foreskin (Tertullian
praeputiatus), uncircumcised
i. e. Gentile,
Romans 4:10;
ἐν ἀκρ. namely,
ὤν,
1 Corinthians 7:18; equivalent, to the same is
δἰ ἀκροβ.
Romans 4:11;
ἡ ἐν τῇ ἀκροβυστία πίστις the faith which one has while he is uncircumcised,
Romans 4:11f.
b. by metonyny, of the abstract for the concrete,
having the foreskin is equivalent to
a Gentile:
Romans 2:26a;
Romans 3:30;
4:9;
Ephesians 2:11;
ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβ. one uncircumcised by birth or a Gentile, opposed to a Jew who shows himself a Gentile in character,
Romans 2:27;
εὐαγγέλιον τῆς ἀκροβ. gospel to be preached to the Gentiles,
Galatians 2:7.
c. in a transferred sense:
ἡ ἀκροβ.
τῆς σαρκός (opposed to the
περιτομή ἀχειροποίητος or regeneration,
Colossians 2:11),
the condition in which the corrupt desires rooted in the σάρξ were not yet extinct, Colossians 2:13 (the expression is derived from the circumstance that the foreskin was the sign of impurity and alienation from God, [cf.
B. D. under the word Circumcision]).
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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BLB Scripture Index of Thayer's