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the slightest attempt to build any doctrine upon the etymology of the word. On the
contrary, in view of the fact that the word had for centuries been in common use to
indicate "gods many", it will be seen that any doctrine built upon the mere meaning of
the word is almost sure to be false. Call Him by whatever name we will, the N.T. ever
points to Christ, the Logos, as the One and Only Interpreter of the being and nature of
God.
Two main lines of argument are put forward by those who seek the derivation of
Theos:
(1)
That it comes from the Sanscrit root, DIU-S, which means fire, the sun, a ray of
light, the sky, and heaven. From this root is traceable the name Jupiter (Dies-Piter
or Diu Piter), i.e., Heaven-father. From DIV (Heaven) may be traced the English
Divine (abbreviated from Dr. Bullinger's Lexicon).
(2)
That is comes from the Greek verb Tithemi, "to place", Theos being "The Placer".
This derivation must be treated with extreme reserve, otherwise we shall be found
following in the footsteps of the heathen.
A Stoic writer, Phurnutus, who lived in the reign of Nero, wrote a "Philosophical
Explanation of the Heathen Worship and Ceremonies", in which he plainly refers them
all to the different parts of material nature; as for instance, to the heavens, air, ether, sun,
moon, stars, etc. This philosopher, in his chapter "Peri Ouranon", concerning heaven,
says, "It is possible that theoi, the gods, were so called from thesis, `position' or
`placing'; for the ancients took those for gods whom they found to move in a certain
regular and constant manner, thinking them the causes of the changes of the air, and of
the conservation of the universe; these then are the gods (theoi) which are the disposers
(theteres), and formers of all things" (Parkhurst).
Thus it will be seen that the derivation of Theos leads us back into the darkness of
idolatry, and, interesting as the history of the word may be, it will but tend to lead us to
transgress the explicit command of God. The Orphic hymns prove that the demons of
ancient worship were the intelligencies residing in created nature, especially the heavens,
and the first and second commandments of the Law of Moses seem definitely to be
attacked in such hymns as:--
"The demons, who in heaven reside, in air.
In water, or in earth or underneath
the earth . . . . ."
Theos is employed by the LXX translation, to translate the Hebrew Elohim, "God",
but the plural, Theoi, is never used to translate the plural, Elohim, for this would but have
ministered to the prevailing idolatry. The name Theos is used of the Father (John 13: 3);
of the Son (John 1: 1); and of the Holy Ghost (Acts 5: 3,4). It is used of heathen gods or
idols (Acts 14: 11), of magistrates (John 10: 34, 35); and of Satan (II Cor. 4: 4). The
word is translated "God" 1,326 times in the A.V., and "god" 12 times, besides "godly",
"exceedingly", etc. In all this mass of material there is not a single passage which takes
the word Theos and develops from its derivation a doctrine or a definition. To us, it