Geerhardus Vos on Pity (sample from Hastings / Dict.Apostolic Church)
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PITY, COMPASSION (by Geerhardus Vos)
The noun ‘pity’ occurs only once in the AV of the NT (Mt 18:33, RV ‘mercy’), and once in RV (Ja 5:11). The adjective ‘pitiful’ occurs in AV (Ja 5:11 and 1 P 3:8, RV ‘tender-hearted’). The Greek equivalents for these words are ἐλεεῖν (ἐλεᾶν), εὔσπλαγχνος, πολύσπλαγχνος. The word ‘compassion’ is of much more frequent occurrence, being represented in the following 21 passages of the two versions: Mt 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 18:27, 20:34, Mk 1:41, 5:19 (RV ‘mercy’) 6:34, 8:2, 9:22, Lk 7:13, 10:33, 15:20, Ro 9:15, Ph 2:1 (AV ‘mercies’), Col 3:12 (AV ‘mercies’), He 5:2 (RV ‘bear gently’) 10:28 (AV ‘mercy’) 10:34, 1 Jn 3:17 (AV ‘bowels’), Jude 22 (RV ‘mercy’). The adjective form ‘compassionate’ occurs in 1 P 3:8 (AV ‘having compassion’). The Greek words corresponding to these are σπλάγχνα, σπλαγχνίζεσθαι, οἰκτείρειν, οἰκτιρμός, ἐλεεῖν (ἐλεᾶν), συμπαθής, μετριοπαθεῖν. It should be noted that the noun σπλάγχνα is found in the original with different translations in the following cases: Lk 1:78 (‘tender mercy’), 2 Co 6:12 (AV ‘bowels,’ RV ‘affections’), Ph 1:8 (AV ‘bowels,’ RV ‘tender mercies’), Philem 7, 12, 20 (AV ‘bowels,’ RV ‘heart’). The noun οἰκτιρμός occurs in Ro 12:1 (‘mercies’), 2 Co 1:3 (‘mercies’), the adjective οἰκτίρμων in Ja 5:11 (RV ‘merciful,’ AV ‘of tender mercy’). ἐλεεῖν and ἔλεος occur numerous times with the standing translation ‘to have mercy,’ ‘mercy.’ συμπαθεῖν occurs in He 4:15 (‘to be touched with the feeling of’).
Of these several Greek words μετριοπαθεῖν may be left out of account, since in the one passage where it occurs (He 5:2) it has nothing to do with compassion. It signifies literally ‘to have a medium-emotion.’ While this may be in contrast to utter lack of sympathy, the context in our passage compels us to understand it in contrast to excess of indignation against sin. Hence RV has the correct rendering ‘who can bear gently,’ whereas AV, ‘who can have compassion,’ translates the word as if it were equivalent to συμπαθεῖν.
The other words are distinguished in their meaning as follows: σπλαγχνίζεσθαι is from σπλάγχνα = the viscera nobilia of the chest (heart, lungs, liver, spleen). This word denoted in classical Greek the seat of all violent passions, and the passions themselves, but the Hebrew רֵחֲמִים for which the LXX σπλάγχνα is the equivalent, stands only sensu bono for the seat of the tender affections and then for the affections themselves. Both in classical and in biblical Greek, therefore, σπλάγχνα covers more than ‘compassion.’ Tittmann (de Synonymis in Novo Testamento, p. 68) is quite correct in claiming this wider sense for Lk 1:78 and Col 3:12, where σπλάγχνα is the generic concept, which is more specifically determined by the genitives ἐλέους and οἰκτίρμων. We may add Ph 2:1, where σπλάγχνα and οἰκτιρμοί are co-ordinated (‘bowels and mercies’). σπλάγχνα is also used in a general sense in 2 Co 6:12, 7:15, Philem 7, 12, 20. The verb σπλαγχνἰζεσθαι seems to be a coinage of the later Greek. It does not even occur in the LXX except in the active form σπλαγχνίζειν in 2 Mac 6:8 = ‘to eat the inwards.’ Its specific sense in the NT is that of a strong inward movement of sympathetic feeling aroused by the sight of misery. The notion of intentness upon affording relief remains in the background, much more so than in ἐλεεῖν. From this strong emotional colouring of the word is to be explained the fact that in the Gospels it does not occur in the appeals addressed by suffering persons or their friends to Jesus, except in Mk 9:22, where the critical nature of the case necessitates an appeal to the profoundest compassion of Jesus. In ordinary cases the appeal naturally employs the word in which the impulse to help is most clearly connoted, and this is ἐλεεῖν. To express the strength and inward character of the feeling the English versions often render ‘to be moved with compassion,’ but neither AV nor RV consistently (cf. the two versions in Mt 20:34 and Mk 6:34). The verb is predicated both of God (Jesus) and of man. Its object is not merely physical but also spiritual distress (cf. Mk 6:34, Mt 9:36