NOTES AND STUDIES

APPABQN
TRANSLATIONS of dggapcbv, which appears in the New Testament
only in 2 Cor. i : 22; 5: 5 andEph. 1: 14, vary so greatly that it appears
that many translators have misunderstood the metaphor. In these
circumstances it seems advisable to draw attention once more to the
use of the word elsewhere than in the New Testament.
'Aopafkov is said by both Lightfoot1 and Liddell and Scott2 to be
Semitic in origin and to have reached Greece probably through the

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Phoenicians. The word being a legal one, and there being no record
dating from New Testament times of any metaphorical meaning in
non-literary texts,3 any enquiry into its meaning needs to begin with
a consideration of its use in legal contexts.
'ApgaPcov was used in Hebrew law, Greek law, and Roman law. In
Gen. 38: 17-20 the Hebrew text has 'erabon which is translated by
oiQQapdrv in the LXX. In this passage it clearly refers to the normal
pledge, that is, something handed over as security that a promise will
be kept, the thing handed over being reclaimed when the promise is
carried out. The thing is normally, as in Gen. 38: 17-20, something of
a kind different from that which is promised.
In Greek law in New Testament times aQQafkbv is known to have
been given in at least two contexts: contracts for the hire of services
and contracts of sale. Moulton and Milligan4 give the following
examples of contracts for the hire of services. 'Regarding Lampon the
mousecatcher I paid him for you as earnest money 8 drachmae in
order that he may catch the mice while they are with young.. . .In the
engagement of certain dancing girls for a village festival provision is
made that they are to receive so many drachmas "by way of earnest
money to be reckoned in the price".' In another example5
Thenetkouis, engaged to carry at the olive-press of Lucius Bellenus
Gemellus, receives an dogaPuv of 16 silver drachmae.
When contracts of this kind were entered into the amount of the
was deducted, by instalments if appropriate, from the
1
J B Lightfoot, Notes on Epistles of St Paul from unpublished commentaries
(Macmillan, 1904), p. 323.
2
A Greek-English Lexicon, new edition revised by H S Jones with the assistance of
R McKenzie (OUP, 1925—40), sv dopafiuiv
3
New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, vol. I, edited by G. H. R. Horsley
(1981), p 83
4
The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder and Stoughton, 1914-29), sv
ippafSujv, p 79
5
A S. Hunt and C C Edgar, Select Papyn, vol 1, pp 51-3 (Loeb Classical
Library)
 NOTES AND STUDIES 93
6
contract amount when the work was done as is shown in Thenetkouis'
agreement above, which also makes it clear that if the worker breached
the conditions of service he had to pay the hirer twice the amount of
the diQpaPwv. Although the dopapdrv was not, strictly speaking, part
of the remuneration it would be likely to appear to anyone who
fulfilled his part of the contract, and received the balance of the
remuneration, to have been a first instalment of that remuneration.
In parenthesis it may be noted that in New Testament times there
were few contracts of service, as distinct from contracts for services,
because the work which is nowadays performed by a servant was in
those days done by a slave. In contracts for services (e.g. the
entertainers and the mousecatcher cited above) the person doing

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the work is not a servant as the word is normally, and legally, under-
stood.
The other context in Greek law in which the 6.pQa.pcDv was given
was in contracts of sale. One needs to remember that both before and
in New Testament times Greek law allowed no action for the enforce-
ment of a contract of sale. Differing from the position in modern law,
under Greek law the buyer could not sue for delivery of the thing sold
and the seller could not sue for the price.7 It was expected that the sel-
ler would hand over the thing sold and the buyer the price at the time
the sale took place. This, however, did not always happen so both the
seller and the buyer looked for some way of ensuring that the other
party would at a later date do what he promised to do. There was an
action for the return of something lent, so sellers sometimes got the
buyer to promise to repay the amount of the price as if it had been lent
to him.8 Turning to the position of buyers who sought to ensure that
the seller would at a later date hand over what had been sold J. Walter
Jones says (229-30) that they 'strengthened their hand before pay-
ment [in Greek law payment divested the seller of his ownership:
228-9] by handing over to the seller something by way of earnest. At
first this was some small article, such as a ring; soon it came to be a
sum of money which might amount to a substantial proportion of the
price.' When the price was paid at a later date the amount of the
AgoaPuv was deducted; if the price was not paid the buyer forfeited
the AgoaPcbv; and if the seller did not hand over what he had sold he
had to return the 6QQCIPU)V plus as much again (229-30).
The Greek practice spread to the eastern Mediterranean world

6
J. Walter Jones, The Law and Legal Theory of the Greeks (OUP, 1956)
p. 230 n. 1
7
J. Walter Jones, op cit., p. 228; F. de Zulueta, The Roman Law of Sale (OUP,
1945), p. 22.
8
J. Walter Jones, op. cit , p 229
94 NOTES AND STUDIES
where the evidence of the Egyptian papyri is that the dggaPcav was
usually half as much as the price.9
As in the case of contracts for the hire of services referred to above,
in sale the AogaPibv was not, strictly speaking, part of the price; but
whenever it was a substantial payment and the balance of the price was
paid thereafter, as normally happened, the &ooaPd)v would appear to
the ordinary man (one not well versed in law) to have been a first
instalment on the price.
In Roman law arra (as it was called in Latin) appears to have been
known from an early date; but it is not clear whether Plautus (c.200
BC), in whose plays it is mentioned, was referring to Greek or Roman
law.10 In later Roman law a small amount of money or an article of a

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different kind could be given as arra, and, if given, evidenced the
existence of the contract." Whether there ever was a period when sub-
stantial arra needed to be given in Roman transactions is not clear,
partly because it is not clear whether in the mid-fifth century BC the
contract of stipulatio was in general use or was confined to sponsion2
Before the end of the Republic, that is, before New Testament times,
when the consensual contracts were introduced into Roman law
(indeed, before that, as soon as stipulatio became a general purpose
action) there was no need in Roman law transactions for substantial
amounts to be given as arra because the law allowed action to be
brought for the enforcement of all kinds of contracts.13
Which of the meanings of AggaPcov is likely to have been intended in
2 Cor. 1: 22, 5: 5 and Eph. 1: 14? Not the meaning in Gen. 38:
17-20. H The Holy Spirit is not something which will be reclaimed by
God the Father at a later date. The LXX translators' choice of
&QQaPcov in Gen. 38: 17-20 may have been influenced by the word's
resemblance to the 'erabon of the Hebrew text. Lightfoot mentions
the fact that in Greekfevexvoovwas available. It is equally suited,
indeed better suited, to the kind of transaction referred to in Gen. 38:
17-20. Lightfoot draws attention to the appropriateness in the New
Testament texts of a meaning of Aggapcov different from that in the
Genesis passage. He says:15
9
De Zulueta, op. cit , 22-3; see also A. Plummer, The Second Epistle ofSt Paul to
the Corinthians (ICC) (T. & T. Clarke, 1915, reprint of 1951), p 41.
10
Alan Watson, The Law of Obligations in the Later Roman Republic (OUP, 1965),
pp. 46-9.
11
De Zulueta, op. cit., p. 23.
12
Alan Watson, op. cit., p. 49; H. F. Jolowicz, Historical Introduction to the Study
of Roman Law (OUP, 2nd edn. 1952), pp. 293—4.
13
De Zulueta, op. a t . , p. 23.
14
J. Armitage Robinson, 5/ Paul's Epistle to the Ephestans (Macmillan, 1903),
P- 3°
15
Op. cit , pp. 323-4
 NOTES AND STUDIES 95
It must be observed that the expression is not b/ixuQov 'a pledge', but
AopafJurv 'an earnest'. In other words, the thing given is related to the thing
assured—the present to the hereafter—as a part of the whole. It is the same
in kind. . . . The patristic commentators on the passages in St Paul insist
strongly on this force of dopafkbv and St Jerome more especially on this
passage complains that it is obliterated in the rendering of the Latin Version,
though he himself has left 'pignus' in his own revision in all three passages
where the word occurs.'

In this connection it is of interest to note that the group of modern

scholars responsible for Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum (Vatican
Press, 1979) translating from the Greek into Latin, abandoned pignus
and used arrabon, while another group responsible for the New

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Jerusalem Bible retained 'pledge' in English.
As a possible source of the metaphor a contract for services has an
important advantage over a contract of sale, a point which seems to
have been overlooked by commentators who mention only contracts
of sale.16 In a contract for services the person who gives the AggaPuVv is
one for whom the work is to be done; the person who receives it is the
one who will do the work. In a contract of sale the buyer gives the
the seller receives it. It is easy to envisage God giving an
to those who believe in him and serve him; it is difficult to
think of a hypothetical transaction in which Christians sell something
to God and receive an diooaPcbv from him as the buyer.
When one turns to the translations of 6oQaPu>v one finds that
'earnest' in the King James Version has not been adopted in modern
times. C. K. Barrett (op. cit.) translates 'a first instalment' in both 2
Cor. 1: 22 and 5: 5, a phrase chosen by Barclay also (though not in
Eph. 1: 14 where he has 'the foretaste and guarantee'). Moffatt has
'pledge and instalment' in 2 Cor. 5: 5 and Eph. 1: 14 and 'pledge' alone
in 2 Cor. 1:22. The word 'deposit' in the New International Version is
presumably used in the sense of 'a deposit of so much, the remainder
to be paid in so many instalments', so the New International Version
may be grouped with translations that refer to 'a first instalment'.
The use in a number of translations of 'guarantee' (RSV, Phillips,
16
e.g. T. K. Abbott, Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians (ICC) (T. & T.
Clark, 1897), p. 23; A. Plummer, op cit., p. 41; E. Evans, The Epistles of Paul the
Apostle to the Corinthians (The Clarendon Bible, OUP, 1930), p. 192; Floyd von
Filson and James Reid in The Interpreter's Bible (Abmgdon Press, 1953), vol. 10, pp.
290-1; Markus Barth, Ephesians (The Anchor Bible, Doubleday 1974), pp. 96-7; F.
F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Corinthians, to Philemon and to the Ephesians (New Int.
Commentary on the iVT series), Eerdmans (1984), p. 266. On the other hand, there are
commentators who mention the contracts with the mousecatcher and/or the dancing
girls (e.g. Barclay Comm. on 2 Cor. 1: 22 and on Eph. 1: 4 (The Saint Andrew Press);
G. B. Caird, Paul's Letters from Prison (New Clarendon Bible, OUP, 1976), p. 42, but
do not note the importance of the difference between such contracts and sales.
96 NOTES AND STUDIES
Good News Bible, Barclay in Eph. i: i4)and 'pledge' (Moffatt, New
English Bible, Newjerusalem Bible and Barclay in 2 Cor. 1 -.22) either
alone or in combination with one of the other renderings leads one to
examine these words further. As the modern English language
translations were produced by British and American scholars, and
remembering that 6.QQaPa)v is a legal word, one needs to begin
consideration of 'guarantee' by referring to Hahbutys' Laws of
England (4th edn. vol. 20, para. 101) which defines a guarantee as'an
accessory contract by which the promisor undertakes to be answerable
to the promisee for the debt, default or miscarriage of another person,
whose primary liability to the promisee must exist or be contem-
plated'. The law of the United States of America is similar.17 This

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does not correspond to dooaPcbv as it existed in New Testament times,
so the translators presumably intended a less precise meaning. In
commercial transactions the word 'guarantee' is often applied to a
warranty. In this sense 'guarantees' include provisions of a contract
concerning the skill with which an obligation will be performed, or the
quality or quantity of the subject-matter of the contract, or the
absence of defects, or similar topics. This also does not correspond to
dgQafkov; so it appears that the translators who use 'guarantee' had yet
another meaning in mind. Presumably they were thinking of the fact
that in sale the giving of dtooapcbv increased the probability that the
contract would be performed: the party who did not perform would
suffer the loss of the amount of the aogaptov. It seems to be clear,
however, that 'guarantee' in this sense is not a good translation of the
New Testament texts in which aQgapwv appears. It has been
indicated above that the contract for services is more likely to have
been the source of the metaphor than contracts of sale. In contracts for
services the prospective loss of the amount of the AooaPoov is felt
primarily by the personwho is to do the work so if there is a 'guarantee'
brought about by economic pressure it is primarily one given by the
workman—a position different from that envisaged in the New
Testament texts. If, contrary to what is suggested above, sale is the
source of the metaphor, God is the 'buyer' and there is no question of a
need for a 'guarantee' of payment of the full 'price'. It follows that
'guarantee', whether used alone or in combination with other
expressions is not a good translation of dgoaPcbv.
It has been shown above that the strict legal meaning of 'pledge'
(something handed over as security that a promise will be kept, the
thing to be reclaimed when it is kept) is not a suitable translation of
&QQafiihx in the New Testament texts. Presumably the legal meaning
of 'pledge' was not intended by translators who use the word. Perhaps

17
30 American Jurisprudence, 2nd edn , para. 2 of the section on Guaranty.
 NOTES AND STUDIES 97
the translators had in mind the generalized modern meaning where
'pledge' means 'promise', as when one 'pledges' to contribute a certain
sum of money to a church or other good cause. This seems to be what
the translators of the New English Bible had in mind when they chose
'a pledge of what is to come' in 2 Cor. 1: 22. See also Moffatt and
Weymouth in Eph. 1: 14. The problem with this meaning of 'pledge'
is that it focuses on a promise of a gift yet to come. There is certainly a
gift of God yet to come but our assurance of it rests on other texts: it is
not part of the meaning of a.QQap'wv 'AooaPwv was given in pursuance
of contracts in which both parties had obligations, contracts which
differed from transactions such as gifts in which the one party had no
obligations. Lightfoot considered that the use offrooctPcbvsuggested,

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and was intended to suggest, that 'the recipient of the earnest money
not only secures to himself the fulfilment of the compact from the
giver, but he pledges himself to accomplish his side of the contract'.18
As the recipient's obligations arise from entry into the contract what
Lightfoot seems to have meant is that the recipient acknowledges by
receiving the AggaPcov that he has obligations to perform—a nuance
absent from the meaning of 'pledge' as the promise of a gift.
While it is recognized that no word or phrase in English
corresponds in all respects to AgoaPcbv it seems that 'a first instalment'
is most likely to convey the sense to a modern reader.
I wish to express my gratitude to the Revd Professor J. N. Suggit,
Professor of New Testament Studies, Rhodes University, for his
assistance during discussions when this note was being prepared,
particularly for providing many of the references. I alone, however,
am responsible for any errors there may be.
A. J. KERR

—THE JEWISH TENDENCIES

OF POPPAEA SABINA

THAT Poppaea Sabina actively interceded with the emperor Nero on

behalf of the Jews at least twice during the period when she was
imperial consort (AD 62-5) is not in dispute. Josephus provides us
with clear circumstantial evidence for this. At Antiquities, xx. 189 ff.,
he describes in some detail a quarrel that had taken place between the
Jews, on the one hand, and the Romans authorities, in the persons of
the client king, Agrippa II and Porcius Festus, the governor of the

18
Op. cit., p. 324, emphasis in original.