to make something other than it was: to change it, exchange it for something else, or transform it
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This was an ordinary, everyday word in the Greek of the New Testament era. It is built straight from the word for "other," and it simply means to make something other than it was. People used it for swapping goods at market, altering the terms of a contract, and changing their clothes. On its own it carries no special religious weight.
In the New Testament it turns up in three shades of that one idea.
- It can mean to exchange, giving up one thing and taking another in its place, as when humanity traded away the glory of God for idols (Romans 1:23).
- It can mean to alter, making a thing different than it was, as in the charge that Jesus would change the customs Moses handed down (Acts 6:14) or Paul's wish to change his tone (Galatians 4:20).
- And in the passive it can mean to be transformed, as when believers "shall be changed" at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51 and 15:52) and when the worn-out creation is changed like a garment (Hebrews 1:12).
Because the word itself is so plain, its weight in any given verse comes from the setting, and often from an echo of the Greek Old Testament. Read together, the six uses trace a quiet arc: what people exchanged away in turning to idols, God will more than restore by transforming them in the resurrection.
Nuances
1ato exchange: to give up one thing and take another in its place
TranslatabilityDirect
Rom 1:23
1bto alter: to make a thing different than it was
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 6:14Gal 4:20
1cto be transformed: to be changed completely into a new and lasting state
1Co 15:511Co 15:52Heb 1:12