εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
“Brothers and sisters,
You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
"My son, do not disdain the discipline (παιδείας, paideías)
of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him;
for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines (παιδεύει, paideúei);
he scourges every son he acknowledges."
Endure your trials as "discipline" (παιδείαν, paideían);
God treats you as sons. For what "son" is there
whom his father does not discipline (παιδεύει, paideúei)?
At the time,all discipline (παιδεία, paideía)
seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who are trained by it.”
θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
It will be hard to miss the word discipline in today’s proclamation from the Letter to the Hebrews. It will reverberate in our Churches 5 times in 4 verses. So what comes to mind when you hear the word discipline? Perhaps conditioning comes to mind as a regimen undertaking by an athlete, a soldier, a student or professional. Perhaps discipline suggests the struggle of self-control or self-restraint when dealing with the myriad of addictive behaviors, disorders and substances. Perhaps discipline expresses a determination, a heighten consciousness or awareness to focus attention on acquiring a particular goal such as healing or better health. Common to all these description is the reality that one must choose a particular path or action and remain faithful to the decision. As the history of each of our lives testifies, such is not easy. Think for a moment how long New Year’s resolutions last, or Lenten sacrifices, not to mention how not-so-pleasant we become when embracing various disciplines.
Our present use of words certainly impacts our grasp of the saving message of God’s Word. Such must be complemented, however, by making sure - as best as possible - that we know how the human word originally intended to express God the Father’s message that has been recorded in the Sacred Scriptures for our salvation. Hence a good place to begin is the Sacred Text Itself and Its context.
The English word discipline is rooted in the Latin disciplina. In the days of Cicero and his contemporaries, disciplina conveyed a wide net of any and all activities related to instructing and to teaching. It was not uncommon for disciplina to refer to a particular branch of knowledge, e.g. mathematics as a discipline, science as a discipline, geography as a discipline, etc ... The study of these and other areas of knowledge helped to educate people for various roles in society, not the least of which was to be a good citizen. Disciplina, particularly among the Romans, meant some type of instruction for the common good prior to any specifically technical education in how to accomplish certain tasks or jobs. One can see the Roman understanding of disciplina places an importance on education or instruction and how that influences the present usage of the word in English.
 |
| Professor Werner Jaeger |
The Letter to the Hebrews, however, is grounded - at least in linguistic expression - in the Greek world. παιδεία, (paideia) is the Greek word translated discipline in the New American Bible Revised Edition. Like many significant words in ancient languages, narrowing an English translation is difficult. The ancient words embody a richness that makes selecting 1 English word challenging and παιδεία (paideia) is no different. Perhaps some reading this have heard the word παιδεία (paideia) as it has been used and continues to be used to express education more in terms of formation, or to be more precise, to be formed. In terms of Christian theology, παιδεία (paideia) - while it can be translated by the English discipline, many scholars favor forming. The late great linguist and Aristotelean scholar, Werner Jaeger, devoted considerable energy to the study of παιδεία (paideia) and penned his three-volume magnum opus, Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture. Jaeger was also a devotee of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, producing many of the Saint’s critical Greek manuscripts and arguing that the bishop of Nyssa had, in fact, developed a uniquely Christian humanism (Early Christianity and Greek Paideia).
For the Greeks of Plato and Aristotle’s day, the rich experience of παιδεία (paideia) expressed the Academy’s work of forming the person as a whole. Teaching or instructing, while important, were aspects of a much larger enterprise that went far beyond the mere transmitting of data from one person to another. Knowledge offered became knowledge received which in turn was contemplated and expressed itself - not in rote recitation of what had been given but - in being shaped as a virtuous person. Shaping or forming the virtuous person, the telos or goal of παιδεία (paideia), involved many dynamics fundamentally grounded in responding to the master or the formator who not only imparted knowledge, but helped the student know the underlying connections among all knowledge. The student, often known as the disciple, received from the master not just ‘data’ but also the means to join all facets of knowledge together in the service of virtue.
No wonder early Christians viewed an affinity between the life in Jesus and παιδεία (paideia). Christian living is not having the facts about Jesus, it is about allowing Holy Spirit to shape and form one into His disciple as a precious adopted one of God the Father.
