Bible Lexicons

";reverence,"; ";worship,"; is found in the NT only in the mid. (Mark 7:7, Acts 16:14, al.) : cf. PSI IV. 361.9 (B.C. 251–0) ὅσοι αὐτὸν σέβονται, P Tebt I. 59.11 (B.C. 99) διὰ τὸ ἄνωθεν φοβεῖσθαι καὶ σέβεσθαι τὸ ἱερόν, Chrest. I. 116.2 (sayings of Sansnos—ii/iii A.D.) σέβου τὸ θεῖον, and Syll 256 (= .3557).7 (c. B.C. 207–6) τοῖς σε [β ]ομένοις Ἀπ [ολλῶνα Πύθιον. We may add the claim of a worshipper of an obscure sect P Oxy XI. 1381.202 (ii/A.D.) Ἑλλην [ὶ ]ς δὲ π [ᾶ ]σα γλῶσσα τὴν σὴν λαλ [ή ][[. .]]σε [ι ] ἱστορίαν κ ̣[αὶ ] πᾶς Ἕλ [λ ]ην ἀνὴρ τὸν τ ̣[ο ]υ ̣̑ Φθᾶ σεβήσεται Ἰμού [θ ]ην, ";every Greek tongue will tell thy story, and every Greek man will worship the son of Ptah, Imouthes"; (Edd.). This reminds Reitzenstein (Hell. Myst. Rel. p. 70) of Philippians 2:11 : see further Halliday Pagan Background of Early Christianity, p. 246.

The phrase οἱ σεβόμενοι (or φοβούμενοι) τὸν θεόν in the book of Acts to denote pagans in close touch with Jewish worship is discussed by Schürer Geschichte.3 III. p. 123 ff. (= HJP II. ii. p. 314 ff.). Deissmann (LAE2, p. 451 f.) cites an inscr. from a seat in the theatre of Miletus, dating from the Roman period, in which the Jews themselves are described as Θεοσέβιοι —

Τόπος Εἰουδέων τῶν καὶ Θεοσεβίον.

";Place of the Jews who are also called God-fearing.";

The act. of the verb is seen in the libellus P Oxy XII. 1464.5 (A.D. 250) ἀεὶ μὲν θύειν καὶ [σπέ ]νδειν καὶ σέβ ̣ειν θεοῖς εἰθισμένοις, and in Kaibel 651.6 (ii/A.D.) σῶ [μα ] χ [ι ]τὼν ψυχῆς · τὸν δὲ θεὸν σέβε μου, where the editor notes that τὸν θεόν μου = τὸ θεῖόν μου, animam meam.