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Homoiōma (ὁμοίωμα) is a Greek neuter noun for "likeness" which is particularly common in Jewish Koine Greek texts. The meaning of the word in several well-known New Testament verses is related to discussion in Christology about the relation of Christ to man.
The noun comes from the adjective homoios, "like". [1]
Use of the word as "image" is relatively common in Attic texts; the use in the singular is found in Plato (Phaedra 250a) and Aristotle (Rhetorica 1356a31). [2] [3] The word is found in inscriptions [4] on ostraca [5] and in the Tebtunis papyri. [6]
The word is more common in Jewish usage than pagan. It appears frequently in the Septuagint, often in relation to idols. [7] [8] [9] [10] The term is used by Josephus in a similar way. [11] The essential contrast is between the reality of God and a homoiōma or artifice. [12] The representation may be two-dimensional such as a diagram [13] graffiti [14] or mural [15] or three-dimensional such as carvings [16] or figurines. [17] The word may also be used in a qualitative or figurative sense; men "like the son of a king", [18] daughters "adorned like a temple" [19] creatures "with the likeness of a man." [20] or, in Sirach as the likeness (homoiōma) of a face to a face. [21]
The word appears 6 times in the New Testament and in the KJV is rendered "likeness" "made like to" "similitude" and "shape". [22] [23] Two of these uses are fairly straightforward, following directly on from Septuagint usage - idols in the likeness of animals, [24] and locusts with the likeness of horses. Another; a sin in the likeness of Adam's sin, is understandable within secular Greek usage. [25] This leaves three other uses, one the likeness of death in Romans 6:5, two more in Paul's description of the likeness of Christ to other men.
In Romans 6:5 Paul introduces the concept of homoiōma between Christians and Christ in a grammatical structure which, although it only employs the word once, duplicates it with a double "of his death...also [in the likeness] of his resurrection". [26]
Discussion in Christology centres on the significance of homoiōma in the writings of Paul, and in particular whether homoiōma in Romans 8:3 and Philippians 2:7 indicates a merely external or internal likeness with other men. [27] Moo (1996) in discussing Romans 8:3 maintains that Paul cannot mean that Christ had only the "appearance" of sinful flesh. [28] yet the meaning is constrained by the need to balance Paul's use of the same word in Philippians 2:7. [29]
In Patristic usage, and later in Greek Orthodox tradition, the concept of homoiōma, being more than just external likeness, is developed in concepts of eucharistic prayer [30] and the rite of the eucharist. [31]
Part of a series on |
Christology |
---|
![]() |
Homoiōma (ὁμοίωμα) is a Greek neuter noun for "likeness" which is particularly common in Jewish Koine Greek texts. The meaning of the word in several well-known New Testament verses is related to discussion in Christology about the relation of Christ to man.
The noun comes from the adjective homoios, "like". [1]
Use of the word as "image" is relatively common in Attic texts; the use in the singular is found in Plato (Phaedra 250a) and Aristotle (Rhetorica 1356a31). [2] [3] The word is found in inscriptions [4] on ostraca [5] and in the Tebtunis papyri. [6]
The word is more common in Jewish usage than pagan. It appears frequently in the Septuagint, often in relation to idols. [7] [8] [9] [10] The term is used by Josephus in a similar way. [11] The essential contrast is between the reality of God and a homoiōma or artifice. [12] The representation may be two-dimensional such as a diagram [13] graffiti [14] or mural [15] or three-dimensional such as carvings [16] or figurines. [17] The word may also be used in a qualitative or figurative sense; men "like the son of a king", [18] daughters "adorned like a temple" [19] creatures "with the likeness of a man." [20] or, in Sirach as the likeness (homoiōma) of a face to a face. [21]
The word appears 6 times in the New Testament and in the KJV is rendered "likeness" "made like to" "similitude" and "shape". [22] [23] Two of these uses are fairly straightforward, following directly on from Septuagint usage - idols in the likeness of animals, [24] and locusts with the likeness of horses. Another; a sin in the likeness of Adam's sin, is understandable within secular Greek usage. [25] This leaves three other uses, one the likeness of death in Romans 6:5, two more in Paul's description of the likeness of Christ to other men.
In Romans 6:5 Paul introduces the concept of homoiōma between Christians and Christ in a grammatical structure which, although it only employs the word once, duplicates it with a double "of his death...also [in the likeness] of his resurrection". [26]
Discussion in Christology centres on the significance of homoiōma in the writings of Paul, and in particular whether homoiōma in Romans 8:3 and Philippians 2:7 indicates a merely external or internal likeness with other men. [27] Moo (1996) in discussing Romans 8:3 maintains that Paul cannot mean that Christ had only the "appearance" of sinful flesh. [28] yet the meaning is constrained by the need to balance Paul's use of the same word in Philippians 2:7. [29]
In Patristic usage, and later in Greek Orthodox tradition, the concept of homoiōma, being more than just external likeness, is developed in concepts of eucharistic prayer [30] and the rite of the eucharist. [31]