Bible Lexicons

θάνατος, θανάτου, ὁ (θανεῖν); the Sept. for מָוֶת and מוּת, also for דֶּבֶר pestilence (Winers Grammar, 29 note); (one of the nouns often anarthrous, cf. Winers Grammar, § 19, 1 under the word; (Buttmann, § 124, 8 c.); Grimm, commentary on Sap., p. 59); death;

1. properly, the death of the body, i. e. that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended: John 11:4 (13); Acts 2:24 (Tr marginal reading ᾅδου) (on this see ὠδίν); Philippians 2:27, 30; Hebrews 7:23; Hebrews 9:15; Revelation 9:6; Revelation 18:8; opposed to ζωή, Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 3:22; 2 Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 1:20; with the implied idea of future misery in the state beyond, 1 Corinthians 15:21; 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14f; equivalent to the power of death, 2 Corinthians 4:12. Since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived of as being very dark, χώρα καί σκιά θανάτου (צַלְמָוֶת) is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness, i. e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin: Matthew 4:16; Luke 1:79 (from Isaiah 9:2); θάνατος is used of the punishment of Christ, Romans 5:10; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 2:(9),14; σῴζειν τινα ἐκ θανάτου, to free from the fear of death, to enable one to undergo death fearlessly, Hebrews 5:7 (but others besides); ῤύεσθαι ἐκ θανάτου, to deliver from the danger of death, 2 Corinthians 1:10; plural θανατοῖ, deaths (i. e. mortal perils) of various kinds, 2 Corinthians 11:23; περίλυπος ἕως θανάτου, even unto death, i. e. so that I am almost dying of sorrow, Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34 (λελύπημαι ἕως θανάτου, Jonah 4:9; λύπη ἕως θανάτου, Sir. 37:2, cf, Judges 16:16); μέχρι θανάτου, so as not to refuse to undergo even death, Philippians 2:8; also ἄχρι θανάτου, Revelation 2:10; Revelation 12:11; ἐσφαγμένος εἰς θάνατον, that has received a deadly wound, Revelation 13:3; πληγή θανάτου, a deadly wound (death-stroke, cf. Winer's Grammar, § 34, 3 b.), Revelation 13:3, 12; ἰδεῖν θάνατον, to experience death, Luke 2:26; Hebrews 11:5; also γεύεσθαι θανάτου (see γεύω, 2), Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; διώκειν τινα ἄχρι θανάτου, even to destruction, Acts 22:4; κατακρίνειν τινα θανάτῳ, to condemn one to death (ad mortem damnare, Tacitus), Matthew 20:18 (here Tdf. εἰς θάνατον); Mark 10:33, (see κατακρίνω, a.); πορεύεσθαι εἰς θάνατον, to undergo death, Luke 22:33; παραδιδόναι τινα εἰς θάνατον, that he may be put to death, Matthew 10:21; Mark 13:12; passive, to be given over to the peril of death, 2 Corinthians 4:11; παρέδωκαν ... εἰς κρίμα θανάτου, Luke 24:20; ἀποκτεῖναι τινα ἐν θανάτῳ (a Hebraism (cf. Buttmann, 184 (159f))), Revelation 2:23; Revelation 6:8 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 29 note); αἰτία θανάτου (see αἰτία, 2), Acts 13:28; Acts 28:18; ἄξιον τί θανάτου, some crime worthy of the penalty of death, Acts 23:29; Acts 25:11, 25; (Acts 26:31); Luke 23:15, 22 (here αἴτιον (which see 2 b.) θάνατος); ἔνοχος θανάτου, worthy of punishment by death, Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:64; θανάτῳ τελευτάτω, let him surely be put to death, Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10, after Exodus 21:17 the Sept. (Hebrew יוּמָת מות); cf. Winers Grammar, § 44 at the end N. 3; (Buttmann, as above); θανάτου ... σταυροῦ, Philippians 2:8; ποιῶ θανάτῳ, by what kind of death, John 12:33; John 18:32; John 21:19. The inevitable necessity of dying, shared alike by all men, takes on in the popular imagination the form of a person, a tyrant, subjugating men to his power and confining them in his dark dominions: Romans 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:(26),54,56; Revelation 21:4; Hades is associated with him as his partner: 1 Corinthians 15:55 R G; Revelation 1:18 (on which see κλείς); ,(a) (Psalm 17:5 (); Psalm 114:3 (); Hosea 13:14; Sir. 14:12).

2. metaphorically, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, i. e. "the misery of soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body": 2 Corinthians 3:7; James 1:15 (Clement of Rome, 2 Cor. 1, 6 [ET] says of life before conversion to Christ, ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ὅλος ἄλλο οὐδέν ἦν εἰ μή θάνατος (cf. Philo, praem. et poenis § 12, and references in 4 below)); opposed to ἡ ζωή, Romans 7:10, 13; 2 Corinthians 2:16; opposed to σωτηρία, 2 Corinthians 7:10; equivalent to the cause of death, Romans 7:13; σῴζειν ψυχήν ἐκ θανάτου, James 5:20; μεταβεβηκέναι ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τήν ζωήν, John 5:24; 1 John 3:14; μένειν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ, 1 John 3:14; θεωρεῖν θάνατον, John 8:51; γεύεσθαι θανάτου, John 8:52 (see 1 above); ἁμαρτία and ἁμαρτάνειν πρός θάνατον (see ἁμαρτία, 2 b.), 1 John 5:16f (in the rabbinical writers לָמוּת חֵטְא — after Numbers 18:22, the Sept. ἁμαρτία θανατηφόρος — is acrimen capitale).

3. the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell is called — now simply θάνατος, Romans 1:32 (Wis. 1:12f Wis. 2:24; Tatian or. ad Graec. c. 13; the author of the epistle ad Diognet. c. 10, 7 [ET] distinguishes between ὁ δοκῶν ἐνθάδε θάνατος, the death of the body, and ὁ ὄντως θάνατος, ὅς φυλάσσεται τοῖς κατακριθησομενοις εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον); now ὁ δεύτερος θάνατος and ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος (as opposed to the former death, i. e. to that by which life on earth is ended), Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:6, 14b; Revelation 21:8 (as in the Targums on Deuteronomy 33:6; Psalm 48:11 (); Isaiah 22:14; Isaiah 66:15; (for the Greek use of the phrase cf. Plutarch, de fade in orbe lunae 27, 6, p. 942 f.); θάνατος αἰώνιος, the Epistle of Barnabas 20, 1 [ET] and in ecclesiastical writings (ὁ ἀΐδιος θάνατος, Philo, post. Cain. § 11 at the end; see also Wetstein on Revelation 2:11)).

4. In the widest sense, death comprises all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth (Philo, alleg. legg. i. § 33 ὁ ψυχῆς θάνατος ἀρετῆς μέν φθορά ἐστι, κακίας δέ ἀνάληψις (de profug. § 21 θάνατος ψυχῆς ὁ μετά κακίας ἐστι βίος, especially §§ 10, 11; qued det. pot. insid. §§ 14, 15; de poster. Cain. § 21, and de praem. et poen. as in 2 above)), to be followed by wretchedness in the lower world (opposed to ζωή αἰώνιος): θάνατος seems to be so used in Romans 5:12; Romans 6:16, 21 (Romans 6:23; yet others refer these last three examples to 3 above); Romans 7:24; Romans 8:2, 6; death, in this sense, is personified in Romans 5:14, 17, 21; Romans 7:5. Others, in all these passages as well as those cited under 2, understand physical death; but see Philippi on Romans 5:12; Messner, Lehre der Apostel, p. 210ff