by Bobby L. Graham
Synopsis: Can you please clear up some confusion about the meaning of “godliness”?
I have heard that there is some disagreement about the word “godliness,” with a preacher I know saying it means God-likeness but another saying it does not mean this. Could you help to clear up my confusion about this word.
I once was among those saying that the word means God-likeness, just as many think and say today. I am thankful that I learned better when I learned the definition of the original term translated “godliness.” Nevertheless, it is easy to see that the two ideas are so close as to be almost negligible in the minds of most people.
The Greek word is eusebeia, a noun. Its adjective form and its adverbial form also appear in the New Testament. This family of words means devotion or piety toward God, a Godward attitude; it conveys the idea of thinking (or being devoted) toward God. Arndt says, “in our literature and in the LXX (it is used) only of awesome respect accorded to God, devoutness, piety, godliness” (BDAG, 412). As the reader can understand, the words stress one’s attitude or mental inclination toward God should be. Such an attitude will lead one to exhibit behavior modeled after God and His Son (Eph. 4:20-24); but the words translated “godliness” and “godly” do not themselves mean God-likeness, but the disposition leading to God-likeness in one’s life.
Perhaps a few partial citations from the Scriptures of this word’s occurrences will prove helpful in impressing this meaning.
Noun: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3)
Noun: “to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness” (2 Pet. 1:6)
Adjective: “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Pet. 2:9)
Adverb: “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:12)
Adverb: “live soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:12)
Of course, we stress again that one cannot be “godly” in his attitude/thinking without demonstrating “God-likeness” in the way he conducts his life. The old principle of one’s heart determining the outcomes in his life holds true in this instance (Prov. 4:23).
Arndt, William, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
