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Faith, Power & Reconciliation Strong: G2316

Theos ({literal})

EN — Transliteration: Theós

Dieu — Le Vivant Trinité, Père de Toute Grâce, Non Monarque Lointain et Impassible

📖 Réf. : John 4:24 | 1 John 4:8 | Exod 3:14 | Jn 1:1 | Rm 8:15 | Ga 4:6 | Mt 6:9

Theos — God (θεός)

Philological & Historical Study Monograph

Etymology & Roots

Theos (θεός) is the generic Greek term to designate a god or God. In the Greek pantheon, the theoi (plural gods) designate divine immortal beings. The Greek theos is fundamentally polytheistic in its original cultural context.

The Septuagint uses theos to translate the different Hebrew names of God:

  • Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) — the general name of God (plural of majesty in Hebrew)
  • YHWH (יהוה) — the proper name, translated Kyrios (Lord) in the LXX
  • El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי) — God Almighty

The founding revelation of the divine name in Exod 3:14 — YHWH = Ehyeh asher Ehyeh ("I am who I am" or "I will be who I will be") — is a definition of God by His living and dynamic being, not by a static essence. YHWH is not "the god who is" in the philosophical sense of pure Being — He is "The One who is there", the God of promise and presence.

Historical & Cultural Context

The encounter between the Hebrew theology of YHWH and the Greek philosophy of the theos is one of the most fruitful and risky intellectual encounters in history.

  • The God of Greek philosophy: the Unmoved Mover. God is the principle of all movement but is Himself impassible, immutable, unaffected by the world.
  • The God of the Hebrew Bible: YHWH repents, gets angry, is touched, comes down to see, answers prayers, intervenes in history.

The Pauline and Johannine Christology articulates these two heritages by making the Logos (John 1:1) the bridge between the philosophical theos and the biblical YHWH — with a fundamental revolution: this God became flesh and suffered. The theos of the NT is not impassible — He weeps (John 11:35), He loves (1 John 4:8).

Theological Shift

1. Divine impassibility: Inherited from Aristotle, the doctrine of divine impassibility (God cannot be affected or suffer) has long dominated official Christian theology. It comes into tension with divine agapē and the theology of kenosis.

2. Abstract monotheism: The reduction of theos to an absolute philosophical unity — without internal relationships, without personality — moves away from the Trinitarian revelation where the theos is fundamentally Father, Son, and Spirit in an eternal relationship of love.

Perspective Conceptuelle

Visualisation Conceptuelle

Visualization: A triune light radiating from a single center — three interlocking and distinct circles of light — *theos* as a Trinity of relationships, not as an absolute Solitary

Source Historique / Géographique

Preuve Historique

Légende historique...

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