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Faction, Factious

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

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denotes "ambition, self-seeking, rivalry," self-will being an underlying idea in the word; hence it denotes "party-making." It is derived, not from eris, "strife," but from erithos, "a hireling;" hence the meaning of "seeking to win followers," "factions," so rendered in the RV of 2 Corinthians 12:20 , AV, "strifes;" not improbably the meaning here is rivalries, or base ambitions (all the other words in the list express abstract ideas rather than factions); Galatians 5:20 (ditto); Philippians 1:17 (RV; AV, ver. 16, "contention"); Philippians 2:3 (AV, "strife"); James 3:14,16 (ditto); in Romans 2:8 it is translated as an adjective, "factious" (AV, "contentious"). The order "strife, jealousy, wrath, faction," is the same in 2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20 . "Faction" is the fruit of jealousy. Cp. the synonymous adjective hairetikos, Titus 3:10 , causing division (marg., "factious"), not necessarily "heretical," in the sense of holding false doctrine.