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corrector,” Rom. 2:20 (
KJV
, “instructor”), (b) “a chastiser,” Heb. 12:9, rendered “to
chasten” (
KJV
, “which corrected”; lit., “chastisers”). See
INSTRUCTOR
.¶
B. Verb.
$
(
1
, 381), “to train up a child” (
), is rendered “correcting in 2 Tim.
2:25,
RV
,
KJV
, “instructing.” See
CHASTEN
.
CORRUPT, verb and adjective. CORRUPTION, CORRUPTIBLE,
INCORRUPTION, INCORRUPTIBLE
A. Verbs.
1.
$
(
"
, 2585) primarily signifies “to be a retailer, to peddle, to
hucksterize” (from
, “an inn-keeper, a petty retailer, especially of wine, a
huckster, peddler,” in contrast to
, “a merchant”); hence, “to get base gain by
dealing in anything,” and so, more generally, “to do anything for sordid personal
advantage.” It is found in 2 Cor. 2:17, with reference to the ministry of the gospel. The
significance can be best ascertained by comparison and contrast with the verb
in
4:2 (likewise there only in the NT), “to handle deceitfully.” The meanings are not
identical. While both involve the deceitful dealing of adulterating the word of truth,
$
has the broader significance of doing so in order to make dishonest gain. Those
to whom the apostle refers in 2:17 are such as make merchandise of souls through
covetousness (cf. Titus 1:11; 2 Pet. 2:3, 14-15; Jude 11, 16; Ezek. 13:19); accordingly
“hucksterizing” would be the most appropriate rendering in this passage, while “handling
deceitfully” is the right meaning in 4:2. See Trench,
- !
Sec.lxii.¶ In Isa. 1:22, the Sept.
has “thy wine-merchants” (
, “hucksterizer”).¶
2.
(
&$
, 5351) signifies “to destroy by means of corrupting,” and so
“bringing into a worse state”; (a) with this significance it is used of the effect of evil
company upon the manners of believers, and so of the effect of association with those
who deny the truth and hold false doctrine, 1 Cor. 15:33 (this was a saying of the pagan
poet Menander, which became a well known proverb); in 2 Cor. 7:2, of the effects of
dishonorable dealing by bringing people to want (a charge made against the apostle); in
11:3, of the effects upon the minds (or thoughts) of believers by “corrupting” them “from
the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ”; in Eph. 4:22, intransitively, of the old
nature in waxing “corrupt,” “morally decaying, on the way to final ruin” (Moule), “after
the lusts of deceit”; in Rev. 19:2, metaphorically, of the Babylonish harlot, in
“corrupting” the inhabitants of the eanh by her false religion.
(b) With the significance of destroying, it is used of marring a local church by leading
it away from that condition of holiness of life and purity of doctrine in which it should
abide, 1 Cor. 3:17 (
KJV
, “defile”), and of God’s retributive destruction of the offender
who is guilty of this sin (id.); of the effects of the work of false and abominable teachers
upon themselves, 2 Pet. 2:12 (some texts have
;
KJV
, “shall utterly perish”),
and Jude 10 (
KJV
, “corrupt themselves.”
RV
, marg., “are corrupted”). See
DEFILE
and
DESTROY
.¶