Blamelessness? -- Part III-A

Commenting on a previous post, my friend Garrett asked if I would reveal which Hebrew words were translated with amemptos and I hope to do just that in this post. We will take a quick look at ἄμεμπτος (amemptos) in the LXX and its Hebrew counterparts in the HB. The hope is that by examining these usages we may begin to gain a better understanding of the semantic and ideological range that Paul had in mind when he said that he had become amemptos with regard to the Law (Phil 3.6).

In the LXX amemptos is used twelve times - once in Genesis (17.1) and eleven times in Job (1.1, 8; 2.3; 4.17; 9.20; 11.4; 12.4; 15.14; 22.3, 19; 33.9). In Genesis 17.1 God appears to Abram and says to him "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless (amemptos)." The Hebrew word that the LXX translates is תָמִֽים, for which BDB gives the following definitions: complete, whole, entire; whole, sound, healthful; complete entire; sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity, while Holladay gives these glosses: whole, entire; intact; unobjectionable; free of blemish; blameless; sincerely, honestly; perfect. BDB lists Gen 17.1 under "sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity" and Holladay lists Gen 6.9, a close parallel to 17.1, under "blameless." Gordon Wenham calls this injunction for Abraham to be tamim "an extreme command," in which "Abraham is expected to emulate Noah’s moral perfection" (Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 16-50. electronic ed. Dallas : Word, Incorporated, 1998 [Logos Library System; Word Biblical Commentary 2], S. 20). Synthesizing these findings, it appears that tamim could refer to a moral state that was marked by integrity, i.e. blamelessness.

The LXX translates a number of Hebrew terms as amemptos. In Job 1.1, 8 and 2.3 amemptos is used for one of the terms in תָּ֧ם וְיָשָׁ֛ר, a phrase meaning something like "upright and blameless." In 4.17 the qal verb יִטְחַר, which means "be clean" or the like, is translated with amemptos, as is the verb צרק, which means "to be righteous," in 9.20 and 22.3. Several other words are translated with amemptos as well: זכח, "to be clean," in 15.14; נָקִי, "free, exempt; innocent; clean," in 22.19; and חַ֥ף, "clean," in 33.9. Interestingly, only once in Job is תָמִֽים rendered as amemptos (12.4), which we saw in Gen 17.1. From all of these references in Job a few things can be surmised: amemptos carried with it an idea of exhibiting high personal morality, since in every case it is associated with a person and often matched with "righteous" or some similar word. (Amemptos also appears in Wisdom 18.21, but we will leave this reference to the side until we talk about the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.)

Thus, from the evidence from the LXX and HB, it appears that it is plausible to expect that Paul would use ἄμεμπτος (amemptos) to refer to human morality. That he applies it to himself in Phil 3.6 when thinking back on his relationship to the Law is interesting, though we will have to leave any preliminary conclusions aside until we have finished this survey in full.


Blamelessness? -- Part I
Blamelessness? -- Part II