SPECIAL TOPIC: FORM (TUPOS)

SPECIAL TOPIC: FORM (tupos)

The term tupos has a wide semantic field.

1. Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, p. 645

a. pattern

b. plan

c. form or manner of writing

d. decree or rescript

e. sentence or decision

f. model of human body as votive offerings to the healing god

g. verb used in the sense of enforcing the precepts of the law

2. Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, vol. 2, p. 249

a. scar (cf. John 20:25)

b. image (cf. Acts 7:43)

c. model (cf. Heb. 8:5)

d. example (cf. 1 Cor. 10:6; Phil. 3:17)

e. archetype (cf. Rom. 5:14)

f. kind (cf. Acts 23:25)

g. contents (cf. Acts 23:25)

3. Harold K. Moulton, The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, p. 411

a. a blow, an impression, a mark (cf. John 20:25)

b. a delineation

c. an image (cf. Acts 7:43)

d. a formula, scheme (cf. Rom. 6:17)

e. form, purport (cf. Acts 23:25)

f. a figure, counterpart (cf. 1 Cor. 10:6)

g. an anticipative figure, type (cf. Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 10:11)

h. a model pattern (cf. Acts 7:44; Heb. 8:5)

i. a moral pattern (cf. Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Thess. 3:9; 1 Tim. 4:12; 1 Pet. 5:3)

Remember, lexicons do not set meaning; only the use of words in sentences/paragraphs sets meaning (i.e., context). Be careful of assigning a set definition to a word and using it in every place the word occurs in the Bible, Context, context, context determines meaning!