Bible Dictionaries
Season

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

primarily, "due measure, fitness, proportion," is used in the NT to signify "a season, a time, a period" possessed of certain characteristics, frequently rendered "time" or "times;" in the following the RV substitutes "season" for the AV "time," thus distinguishing the meaning from chronos (see No. 2): Matthew 11:25; 12:1; 14:1; 21:34; Mark 11:13; Acts 3:19; 7:20; 17:26; Romans 3:26; 5:6; 9:9; 13:11; 1 Corinthians 7:5; Galatians 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:17 , lit., "for a season (of an hour);" 2 Thessalonians 2:6; in Ephesians 6:18 , "at all seasons" (AV, "always"); in Titus 1:3 , "His own seasons" (marg., "its;" AV, "in due times"); in the preceding clause chronos is used.

The characteristics of a period are exemplified in the use of the term with regard, e.g., to harvest, Matthew 13:30; reaping, Galatians 6:9; punishment, Matthew 8:29; discharging duties, Luke 12:42; opportunity for doing anything, whether good, e.g., Matthew 26:18; Galatians 6:10 ("opportunity"); Ephesians 5:16; or evil, e.g., Revelation 12:12; the fulfillment of prophecy, Luke 1:20; Acts 3:19; 1 Peter 1:11; a time suitable for a purpose, Luke 4:13 , lit., "until a season;" 2 Corinthians 6:2; see further under No. 2. See ALWAYS , Note, OPPORTUNITY , TIME , WHILE.

whence Eng. words beginning with "chron," denotes "a space of time," whether long or short: (a) it implies duration, whether longer, e.g., Acts 1:21 , "(all the) time;" Acts 13:18; 20:18 , RV, "(all the) time" (AV, "at all seasons"); or shorter, e.g., Luke 4:5; (b) it sometimes refers to the date of an occurrence, whether past, e.g., Matthew 2:7 , or future, e.g., Acts 3:21; 7:17 .

Broadly speaking, chronos expresses the duration of a period, kairos stresses it as marked by certain features; thus in Acts 1:7 , "the Father has set within His own authority" both the times (chronos), the lengths of the periods, and the "seasons" (kairos), epochs characterized by certain events; in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 , "times" refers to the length of the interval before the Parousia takes place (the presence of Christ with the saints when He comes to receive them to Himself at the Rapture), and to the length of time the Parousia will occupy; "seasons" refers to the special features of the period before, during, and after the Parousia.

Chronos marks quantity, kairos, quality. Sometimes the distinction between the two words is not sharply defined as, e.g., in 2 Timothy 4:6 , though even here the Apostle's "departure" signalizes the time (kairos). The words occur together in the Sept. only in Daniel 2:21; Ecclesiastes 3:1 . Chronos is rendered "season" in Acts 19:22 , AV (RV, "a while"); 20:18 (RV, "all the time," see above); Revelation 6:11 , AV (RV, "time"); so Revelation 20:3 . In Luke 23:8 it is used with hikanos in the plural, RV, "(of a long) time," more lit., "(for a sufficient number) of times."

In Revelation 10:6 chronos has the meaning "delay" (RV, marg.), an important rendering for the understanding of the passage (the word being akin to chronizo, "to take time, to linger, delay," Matthew 24:48; Luke 12:45 ). See DELAY , B, Note, SPACE , TIME , WHILE.

"an hour," is translated "season" in John 5:35; 2 Corinthians 7:8; Philemon 1:15 : see HOUR.

"temporary, transient," is rendered "for a season" in Hebrews 11:25 . See TEMPORAL , TIME , WHILE.

denotes "out of season, unseasonably" (akin to akairos, "unseasonable," a, negative, and A, No. 1), 2 Timothy 4:2 .

"in season" (eu, "well"), 2 Timothy 4:2; it occurs also in Mark 14:11 , "conveniently."

Note: For oligon, 1 Peter 1:6 , AV, "for a season," see WHILE.