Bible Dictionaries
Child, Children, Childbearing, Childish, Childless

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

"a child" (akin to tikto, "to beget, bear"), is used in both the natural and the figurative senses. In contrast to huios, "son" (see below), it gives prominence to the fact of birth, whereas huios stresses the dignity and character of the relationship. Figuratively, teknon is used of "children" of (a) God, John 1:12; (b) light, Ephesians 5:8; (c) obedience, 1 Peter 1:14; (d) a promise, Romans 9:8; Galatians 4:28; (e) the Devil, 1 John 3:10; (f) wrath, Ephesians 2:3; (g) cursing, 2 Peter 2:14; (h) spiritual relationship, 2 Timothy 2:1; Philemon 1:10 . See DAUGHTER , SON.

"a little child," a diminutive of No. 1, is used only figuratively in the NT, and always in the plural. It is found frequently in 1John, see 2:1,12,28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21; elsewhere, once in John's Gospel, John 13:33 , once in Paul's Epistles, Galatians 4:19 . It is a term of affection by a teacher to his disciples under circumstances requiring a tender appeal, e.g., of Christ to the Twelve just before His death; the Apostle John used it in warning believers against spiritual dangers; Paul, because of the deadly errors of Judaism assailing the Galatian churches. Cp. his use of teknon in Galatians 4:28 .

"a son," is always so translated in the RV, except in the phrase "children of Israel," e.g., Matthew 27:9; and with reference to a foal, Matthew 21:5 . The AV does not discriminate between teknon and huios. In the First Epistle of John, the Apostle reserves the word for the Son of God. See teknia, "little children" (above), and tekna, "children," in John 1:12; 11:52 . See paidion (below). For the other use of huios, indicating the quality of that with which it is connected, see SON.

signifies (a) "a child in relation to descent," (b) "a boy or girl in relation to age," (c) "a servant, attendant, maid, in relation to condition." As an instance of (a) see Matthew 21:15 , "children," and Acts 20:12 (RV "lad"). In regard to (b) the RV has "boy" in Matthew 17:18; Luke 9:42 . In Luke 2:43 it is used of the Lord Jesus. In regard to (c), see Matthew 8:6,8,13 , etc. As to (a) note Matthew 2:16 , RV, "male children. See MAID , MANSERVANT , SERVANT , SON , YOUNG MAN.

a diminutive of pais, signifies "a little or young child;" it is used of an infant just born, John 16:21; of a male child recently born, e.g., Matthew 2:8; Hebrews 11:23; of a more advanced child, Mark 9:24; of a son, John 4:49; of a girl, Mark 5:39,40,41; in the plural, of "children," e.g., Matthew 14:21 . It is used metaphorically of believers who are deficient in spiritual understanding, 1 Corinthians 14:20 , and in affectionate and familiar address by the Lord to His disciples, almost like the Eng., "lads," John 21:5; by the Apostle John to the youngest believers in the family of God, 1 John 2:13,18; there it is to be distinguished from teknia, which term he uses in addressing all his readers (1 John 2:1,12,28 : see teknia, above). See DAMSEL.

Note: The adverb paidiothen, "from (or of) a child," is found in Mark 9:21 .

another diminutive of pais, is used of "boys and girls," in Matthew 11:16 (the best texts have paidiois here), and a "lad," John 6:9; the tendency in colloquial Greek was to lose the diminutive character of the word.

lit., "not-speaking" (from ne, a negative, and epos, a word is rendered "childish" in 1 Corinthians 13:11 : see BABE.

lit., "only-begotten," is translated "only child" in Luke 9:38 . See ONLY , ONLY-BEGOTTEN.

teknon and a root gen---, whence gennao, "to beget," denotes "bearing children," implying the duties of motherhood, 1 Timothy 2:15 .

"to be a babe," is used in 1 Corinthians 14:20 , "(in malice) be ye babes" (akin to No. 7, above).

"to rear young," teknon, and trepho, "to rear," signifies "to bring up children," 1 Timothy 5:10 .

"to bear children" (teknon, and gennao, "to beget"), see No. 9 above, is found in 1 Timothy 5:14 .

denotes "great with child" (en, "in," and kuo, "to conceive"), Luke 2:5 .

from phileo, "to love," and teknon, signifies "loving one's children," Titus 2:4 .

from a, negative, and teknon, signifies "childless," Luke 20:28-30 .

Notes: (1) For brephos, "a new born babe," always rendered "babe" or "babes" in the RV (AV, "young children," Acts 7:19; "child," 2 Timothy 3:15 ), see under BABE.

(2) Huiothesia, "adoption of children," in the AV of Ephesians 1:5 , is corrected to "adoption as sons" in the RV. See on ADOPTION.