Words of the Month (June 2023)

1. Incarnation (English)-Merriam-Webster defines the English noun, incarnation as "the act of incarnating : the state of being incarnate, a particular physical form or state; a concrete or actual form of a quality or concept."

When the noun is capitalized and used within the context of discourse about Jesus Christ, it traditionally means "the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ."

John 1:14 serves as the locus classicus for the teaching of the Incarnation: "the Word became flesh."

The Online Etymology Dictionary provides this explanation:

c. 1300, "embodiment of God in the person of Christ," from Old French incarnacion "the Incarnation" (12c.), from Late Latin incarnationem (nominative incarnatio), "act of being made flesh" (used by Church writers especially in reference to God in Christ; source also of Spanish encarnacion, Italian incarnazione), noun of action from past-participle stem of Late Latin incarnari "be made flesh," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + caro (genitive carnis) "flesh" (originally "a piece of flesh," from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). Glossed in Old English as inflæscnes, inlichomung. As "person or thing that is the embodiment" (of some quality, deity, etc.) from 1742.

See https://www.etymonline.com/word/incarnation

2. Paraenesis (English)-Oxford Bibliographies has a helpful introduction for the subject of paraenesis. The word comes from the Greek παραίνεσις, "which originally meant any kind of advice, instruction, or counsel." Some scholars think we find occurrences of paraenesis in the NT when vice and virtue lists occur, warning examples are given or when NT writers set forth the so-called Haustafeln. Due to insurmountable difficulties with this approach, others choose to define NT paraenesis "in terms of its ancient meaning as an umbrella term for any kind of instruction, moral or otherwise."

The problem with the second approach is that paraenesis becomes semantically vacuous with no specific content to differentiate it denotationally from similar terms. Hence, the predominant view of paraenesis is to interpret it as specific moral counsel given within a determinate Christian setting; in other words, NT writers are supposed to be unfolding the moral implications of the Christian faith and, in this sense, their counsel is evidently paraenetic.

See https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0143.xml