to be overwhelmed with astonishment: knocked out of one's normal composure by something too big to take in
The picture behind this word is a physical blow. It is built from a verb meaning to strike or hit, so its oldest sense is to strike something clean out of a person. In the New Testament it always describes people on the receiving end: something outside them lands with such force that it drives them out of their ordinary calm. That makes it a strong word, well above the everyday word for marveling or wondering (θαυμάζω). It belongs near the top of the range of words for amazement, close to the idea of being beside oneself (ἐξίστημι).
Every one of its appearances describes bystanders reacting, and the thing that hits them is almost always Jesus: his teaching, the power in his miracles, or, in the one occurrence outside the Gospels, the message about him. Crowds, disciples, his own parents, and a Roman governor are all knocked back the same way. The word insists that the reaction was not chosen. These people did not decide to be amazed; something struck them.
The emotional color shifts from writer to writer.
- In Luke the astonishment leans toward worship, as when a crowd is overwhelmed at the majesty of God.
- In Mark it carries a note of unsettling, almost fearful shock.
- In Matthew it can be a blow to the mind that curdles into offense, since the same neighbors who are stunned by Jesus then take offense at him.
- In Acts it becomes the doorway to belief.
One important caution runs through all of this: being struck like this is not the same as faith. It can open into faith or it can stall short of it.