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Bible Dictionaries
Simplicity
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (lit. [Note: literally, literature.] ‘one-foldedness’)
(a) In Romans 16:18 the term ‘simple’ is used in the Authorized Version to translate ἄκακος. False teachers by smooth and fair speech beguile the hearts of the ‘simple.’ These are inexperienced Christians, unfamiliar with the duplicity of guile, ἄκακος in Hebrews 7:26 is used in the purely good sense, of ‘guileless,’ and is applied to Jesus, but here the word seems to be used in a slightly derogatory sense-so ignorant of evil as to be easily deceived by evil.
(b) In Romans 16:19 the word ‘simple,’ translating ἀκέραιος (lit. [Note: literally, literature.] ‘free from foreign admixture,’ as, e.g., wine unmingled with water, unalloyed metal), has no such derogatory significance. St. Paul would have his readers innocent without being ignorant; discerning the wiles of Satan, yet without sin-craft: in wisdom many-sided-in aim and affection single-minded (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:20, ‘Be not children in mind: howbeit in malice, be ye babes’).
(c) In 1 Peter 2:2 ἄδολος is used in the sense of ‘simple,’ ‘unadulterated’: ‘Desire the sincere milk of the word’ (Authorized Version : the word ‘sincere’ being used in its early English sense of ‘unmixed’). See R. C. Trench Synonyms of the NT8, London, 1876 p. lvi.
(d) ‘Simplicity’ is given as the Authorized Version translation of ἁπλότης in Romans 12:8 : ‘He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.’ The Greek word indicates one-foldedness; in regard to giving, the term suggests that there is no two-sidedness in the act, that the impulse to help is not checked by a spirit of grudging selfishness. Thus the sense of ‘liberality’ became attached to the word, and so it is translated in the Revised Version of this passage (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:2 [Authorized Version and Revised Version ] 2 Corinthians 9:11; 2 Corinthians 9:13, James 1:5).
In 2 Corinthians 11:3 St. Paul fears lest the church at Corinth, like tempted Eve, ‘should be corrupted from the simplicity (both Authorized Version and Revised Version ) that is toward Christ.’ The noun (ἁπλότης) would be better translated here ‘singleness of heart,’ as in Authorized Version and Revised Version of Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22 (‘Obey your masters in singleness of heart,’ i.e. in contrast to the double-deal ingot eye-service). In Acts 2:46 (‘They’-i.e. the members of the primitive Church-‘did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart’) the same idea is expressed by another phrase-ἀφελότητι καρδίας-the figure suggested being that of a field clear of stony ground (ἀ + φελλεύς). The Authorized Version translation ‘simplicity’ of 2 Corinthians 1:12 rests on an inferior reading-ἁπλότηι for ἁγιότητι.
H. Bulcock.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Simplicity'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/simplicity.html. 1906-1918.
