Sermon Tone Analysis

Building a Wall

νηφω Nepho

sober=nepho

12

sober ■ adjective (soberer, soberest) 1 not affected by alcohol; not drunk.

2 serious; thoughtful.

3 muted in colour.

■ verb 1 (usually sober up) make or become sober after drinking alcohol. 2 make or become serious.

—DERIVATIVES sobering adjective soberingly adverb soberly adverb —ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French sobre, from Latin sobrius.

COED

νήφω 1 aor.

ἔνηψα (Soph., Pla., X. et al.; ins, pap) prim.

‘be sober’; in the NT only fig.

= be free fr.

every form of mental and spiritual ‘drunkenness’, fr.

excess, passion, rashness, confusion, etc. be well-balanced, self-controlled (Aristot.

et al.; Epicurus in Diog.

L. 10, 132 νήφων λογισμός=sober reasonableness; Περὶ ὕψους 16, 4; Lucian, Hermot.

47 νῆφε; Herodian 2, 15, 1; Achilles Tat. 1, 13 ν.

ἐκ τοῦ κακοῦ; Herm.

Wr. 7, 1; BGU 1011 III, 9 [II B.C.]; POxy 1062, 13 ἵνα αὐτὴν [sc.

τ. ἐπιστολὴν] ἀναγνοῖς νήφων κ. σαυτοῦ καταγνοῖς; EpArist 209; Philo; Jos., Bell.

2, 225; 4, 42; SibOr 1, 154) ; .

[Ἱερώνυμος ἤδ]η̣ νήψας νυκτὸς | ἐν ὀδύνα̣[ις] Hieronymus, in pain (because of an injury to his ear during a violent storm) now came to his senses (concerning his animosity toward Paul) during the night AcPl Ha 5, 29f.

ν. ἐν πᾶσιν be self-possessed under all circumstances (M.

Ant. 1, 16, 15) .

W. γρηγορεῖν (cp.

Plut., Mor.

800b ἀγρυπνῶν …

BDAG

νήφω, νηφάλιος, ἐκνήφω † νήφω.*

The concept which underlies the verb νήφω == “to be sober” and the whole word group, is formally negative.

It is the opp. of “intoxication”1 (→ μεθύω) both 1. in the lit.

sense of intoxication with wine, and 2. in the fig.

sense of states of spiritual intoxication attributable to other causes.

1. Sobriety in the Literal Sense.

a.

The usage is originally radical.

A man is νήφων2 who is at the time completely unaffected by wine, Theogn., 478: οὔτʼ ἔτι γὰρ νήφω οὔτε λίην μεθύω, Epict.

Diss., IV, 27: οὐ δύνασαι δʼ ἐν ἀμφοτέρῳ τῷ εἴδει διενεγκεῖν … ἑλοῦ οὖν, πότερον μεθυστὴς ἐ͂ναι θέλεις ἢ νήφων, cf. also in Plut.

De Garrulitate, 4 (II, 503) the proverb: τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ νήφοντος ἐπὶ τῆς γλώττης ἐστὶ τοῦ μεθύοντος.

b.

But in the same context Pluto, like many others,3 makes a distinction between mere οἴνωσις and strict → μέθη.

This distinction must surely have had a relativising effect …

TDNT

30.25 νήφωa: (a figurative extension of meaning of νήφω ‘to be sober, to not be drunk,’ probably not occurring in the NT; see 88.86) to be in control of one’s thought processes and thus not be in danger of irrational thinking—‘to be sober-minded, to be well composed in mind.’

ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν ‘but we should be awake and sober-minded’ .

It is also possible to understand νήφω in as meaning ‘self-control,’ as a characteristic of moral behavior (see 88.86).

Louw-Nida

Be sober KJV 1900, LEB, NKJV, RSV, AV 1873

Be of sober NASB95

Be serious HCSB

Be sober-minded ESV

Discipline yourselves NRSV

of sober mind NIV

Sobrii estote VGCLEM

Text Comparison

νήψατε, nēpsate,

νήφω nēphōbe sober; be self-controlled

νηφω nēphō be sober; be self-controlled

VAAM2P verb, aorist, active, imperative, second person, plural

G3525 Greek Strong’s

LN 30.25 Louw-Nida

to get self-control ⇔ sober up verb

Letter, General 1 Peter

Body; Exhortation 1:13–5:14

Warning 8–9

Allusion, Old Testament 8

Figure of Speech

Name: Ellipsis

Figure of Speech

Name: Correspondence

Sentence—One or more clauses that have a coordinate relationship to the preceding discourse.

Sentences which begin a speech reported within the discourse are labeled as ‘sentences’, but are indented one level in the outline to reflect that they are technically dependent upon (i.e.

subordinate to) the verb of speaking that introduces them.

Sentences are coordinated to the preceding discourse using καὶ, δὲ, or asyndeton (the absence of a conjunction).

LDGNT Glossary

Asyndeton (Clause) Grammatical Constructions

Figurative Language

Category: Metaphor, Structural

Source: Sober

Target: Spiritually Alert

Type: Sober as Spiritually Alert

Intertext

Target: NHC VII 4, 94:33–NHC VII 4, 95:12

Corpus: Nag Hammadi Codices

Relationship: Allusion

Intertext

Source:

Corpus: New Testament

Relationship: Echo

Semantic Feature

Category: Command

Command

Type: Command

Verb Class: Seem

Syllable

Graphemes: νη-ψα-τε

Count: 3