StrongerBible

malista

μάλιστα

GreekG3122“especially, above all, ...”

Appears 12 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Act 20:38Act 25:26Act 26:3Gal 6:10Php 4:221Ti 4:101Ti 5:81Ti 5:172Ti 4:13Tit 1:10Phm 1:162Pe 2:10
Root family
Word studyMAH-lee-stahadverb

What malista means

most of all: the word that lifts one part out of a group just named, or ranks one thing above all the rest

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This is the top step of a small family of Greek words for degree. The plain word underneath it means "very"; one step up, μᾶλλον means "more" or "rather" and weighs two things against each other; μάλιστα tops the scale and means "most". In ordinary use it does one of two closely related jobs: it lifts one part out of a group that has just been named, or it simply ranks one reason or one feeling above all the others.

The first job is the common one. Paul tells the Galatians to do good to everyone, then adds a special word for the household of faith; the greetings that close Philippians come from all the believers in the city, and then, pointedly, from the ones in Caesar's household. The second job shows up in Acts, where the elders from Ephesus weep most of all over one particular thing Paul had said, and where Paul tells King Agrippa that the king's own familiarity with Jewish customs is the chief reason he is glad to make his defense before him.

Because the word does its work so lightly, it rarely changes what a sentence is about, but it often changes where the weight falls. That is also why a small cluster of verses in the letters to Timothy and Titus is argued over. In those verses the wider group and the narrower one can look like the same people, and some scholars have proposed that the word is not narrowing there at all but restating, closer to "that is to say". The standard dictionaries and nearly all translators keep the ordinary force of "especially" everywhere, but the difference is worth knowing, because one of the disputed verses says that God is "the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe".

Nuances

1apicking one part out of a group just named: especially, above all
Act 25:26Gal 6:10Php 4:221Ti 4:101Ti 5:81Ti 5:172Ti 4:13Tit 1:10Phm 1:162Pe 2:10
1Ti 4:10

Whether "the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe" singles believers out from a wider group, or identifies the "all people" as the believers themselves.

  • majorityThe ordinary sense holds: the sentence names a wide group and then singles out believers within it.; Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. μάλιστα, 613; Vern S. Poythress, 'The Meaning of μάλιστα in 2 Timothy 4:13 and Related Verses,' Journal of Theological Studies NS 53/2 (2002): 523-532
  • minorityThe word gives a closer definition of the preceding phrase, so the verse reads "the Savior of all people, namely those who believe".; T. C. Skeat, "'Especially the Parchments': A Note on 2 Timothy IV.13," Journal of Theological Studies NS 30 (1979): 173-177; George W. Knight III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 203-204; I. Howard Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), 195, 556
1Ti 5:17

Whether the verse distinguishes elders who preach and teach from other elders who lead well, or describes every such elder.

  • majorityThe ordinary sense holds: the verse marks out a group within the elders who lead well.; Vern S. Poythress, 'The Meaning of μάλιστα in 2 Timothy 4:13 and Related Verses,' Journal of Theological Studies NS 53/2 (2002): 523-532; Hong Bom Kim, 'The Interpretation of μάλιστα in 1 Timothy 5:17,' Novum Testamentum 46 (2004): 360-368
  • minorityThe word defines rather than divides, so the elders who lead well are the very ones who labor in preaching and teaching. This verse was not in Skeat's original list and entered the discussion through the commentaries.; George W. Knight III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 232; I. Howard Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), 612
2Ti 4:13

Whether "the books, especially the parchments" names two sets of items or one set described twice.

  • majorityThe ordinary sense holds: Paul wants the books, and the parchments above all. Nothing in the request implies an unusually large library.; Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. μάλιστα, 613; Vern S. Poythress, 'The Meaning of μάλιστα in 2 Timothy 4:13 and Related Verses,' Journal of Theological Studies NS 53/2 (2002): 523-532
  • minorityThe word introduces a closer definition, so Paul asks for one thing: the books, that is to say, the parchment notebooks. Later commentators treat this as a live option while expressing some doubt about this particular verse.; T. C. Skeat, "'Especially the Parchments': A Note on 2 Timothy IV.13," Journal of Theological Studies NS 30 (1979): 173-177; William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, WBC 46 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000), 592
1branking one reason or one feeling above all others: most of all, chiefly
Act 20:38Act 26:3

What scholars say about malista

BDAG (613, sense 1) and LSJ (1076, s.v. μάλα III.1) give μάλιστα a single sense in Koine: the superlative of μάλα, "most of all, above all, especially, particularly." Neither lexicon records a separate explanatory sense. The one live debate was opened by T. C. Skeat in 1979, who argued from documentary papyri (P.Oxy. 1411, 3253 and 3302 among his examples) that μάλιστα can introduce a closer definition of what precedes, so that 2 Timothy 4:13 asks for "the books, that is, the parchment notebooks" rather than for two kinds of item; Skeat extended the proposal to 1 Timothy 4:10 and Titus 1:10-11. It was taken up, with varying confidence, in two major commentaries on the Pastorals: Knight (NIGTC) and Marshall (ICC) both prefer the sense "namely" at 1 Timothy 4:10, 1 Timothy 5:17, 2 Timothy 4:13 and Titus 1:10, Marshall adding 1 Timothy 5:8, though both express some doubt at 2 Timothy 4:13 and Knight also at Titus 1:10; Mounce (WBC) records the readings as possibilities without preferring them. 1 Timothy 5:17 was not in Skeat's original list and entered the discussion through these commentaries, where the stakes are a view of church office. Poythress (JTS 2002) replied on three grounds: every one of Skeat's papyrological examples is spurious or ambiguous; Greek already had τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, an unambiguous way of saying "that is," which makes a second sense for μάλιστα less plausible; and Chadwick's lexicographical warning against multiplying senses places the burden of proof on the new proposal. He concludes that "especially" is correct at 1 Timothy 4:10; 5:8, 17; 2 Timothy 4:13 and Titus 1:10. Hong Bom Kim (NovT 2004) argued the same case specifically for 1 Timothy 5:17. The single-sense analysis remains the majority position and is what the standard lexica print. Galatians 6:10, Philippians 4:22, Philemon 16, 2 Peter 2:10 and the three occurrences in Acts fall outside the debate entirely.

Where scholars disagree about malista

Whether μάλιστα carries a second, explanatory sense meaning "that is to say, namely," identifying what precedes rather than singling out part of it.

  • majorityThe word has one sense, "most of all, especially": it always marks something out for extra weight, and every disputed passage reads well that way. Greek already possessed τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν for "that is," and the papyrological evidence offered for a new sense is ambiguous at best.; Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. μάλιστα, 613; H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. with rev. suppl. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), s.v. μάλα III.1, 1076; Vern S. Poythress, 'The Meaning of μάλιστα in 2 Timothy 4:13 and Related Verses,' Journal of Theological Studies NS 53/2 (2002): 523-532; Hong Bom Kim, 'The Interpretation of μάλιστα in 1 Timothy 5:17,' Novum Testamentum 46 (2004): 360-368
  • minorityIn several passages, chiefly in the letters to Timothy and Titus, the word introduces a closer definition of what was just said and is better rendered "that is, namely."; T. C. Skeat, "'Especially the Parchments': A Note on 2 Timothy IV.13," Journal of Theological Studies NS 30 (1979): 173-177; George W. Knight III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 203-204, 232; I. Howard Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), 195, 556, 612

Sources

  • Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. μάλιστα, 613lexicon
  • H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. with rev. suppl. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), s.v. μάλα III.1, 1076lexicon
  • T. C. Skeat, "'Especially the Parchments': A Note on 2 Timothy IV.13," Journal of Theological Studies NS 30 (1979): 173-177article
  • Vern S. Poythress, 'The Meaning of μάλιστα in 2 Timothy 4:13 and Related Verses,' Journal of Theological Studies NS 53/2 (2002): 523-532article
  • Hong Bom Kim, 'The Interpretation of μάλιστα in 1 Timothy 5:17,' Novum Testamentum 46 (2004): 360-368article
  • George W. Knight III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 203-204, 232commentary
  • I. Howard Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), 195, 556, 612commentary
  • William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, WBC 46 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000), 256-257, 592commentary
  • John Chadwick, Lexicographica Graeca: Contributions to the Lexicography of Ancient Greek (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 23-24monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of μάλιστα

adv

μάλιστα

Act 20:38, Act 25:26, Act 26:3, Gal 6:10, Php 4:22, 1Ti 4:10, 1Ti 5:8, 1Ti 5:17