James 2:23 · Symbol · Friendship
The Words Rea and Philos
The words Scripture uses for a friend reach from the builders of Babel to Abraham, the friend of God.
The first time the Bible uses rea, the word Proverbs uses for a friend, the Berean renders it to one another.
And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
- The word
- רֵעַ (rea), H7453
- First appears
- Genesis 11:3 “And they said to one another, “Come, let…”
Summary
The commonest Hebrew word for a friend is rea, the other person, whose range runs from the neighbour of the law to the closest companion. Four rarer nouns name the close friend, the companion, the friend at court and the friend who keeps away. In Greek the noun for a friend is philos. Hetairos is the word Friend spoken to men who are in the wrong.
- The Berean renders rea as neighbour, friend or companion by its context, so one Hebrew noun covers the neighbour of Leviticus 19:18 and the friend of Proverbs 17:17.
- Proverbs and Isaiah name the friend with a form of ahav, the Hebrew verb to love, so a friend is one who loves.
- James calls Abraham a friend of God and calls friendship with the world hostility toward God.
Rea, the Other Person
The noun stands at Babel, in the law of love and in the LORD's speech with Moses.
The Words Rea and Philos is the word study of the value of friendship, since these words show what the Bible means when it calls someone a friend and how near that person stands.
The question this study answers is which Hebrew and Greek words name a friend, how wide the Hebrew rea runs, and what the Greek philos adds in the New Testament. It gives the counts of the words, their uses in Proverbs and the Gospels, the title friend of God, and the cautions that keep a reader from building on a root.
The STEP Bible lexicon glosses rea as “an associate (more or less close)” and gives its meaning as “neighbor”.
Its first use in the order of the canon is the idiom 'ish el-re'ehu, each to his neighbour, spoken by the builders at Babel (Genesis 11:3).
The same noun stands where the LORD spoke with Moses “as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.The verse is the law's command of love, and its object is rea, so the question of who the neighbour is turns on this word.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (1871) took the neighbour of Leviticus 19:18 as “fellow creature”, a reading they found in Luke 10:30 to 37.
Sixteen verses later the law commands the same love for “the foreigner living among you” (Leviticus 19:34).
Where the Friend Words Stand
The table gives each word's uses and verses in the tagged text.
Rea is the commonest Hebrew noun for a friend and philos the commonest Greek one, and six of the ten words stand a dozen times or fewer.
| Word | Gloss in the STEP Bible lexicon | Uses | Verses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | |||
| rea, רֵעַ, H7453, noun | an associate (more or less close) | 188 | 173 |
| ahav, אָהַב, H157, verb | to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) | 211 | 197 |
| alluph, אַלּוּף, H441, noun | familiar | 69 | 29 |
| chaber, חָבֵר, H2270, noun | an associate | 12 | 11 |
| merea, מֵרֵעַ, H4828, noun | a friend | 7 | 7 |
| re'eh, רֵעֶה, H7463, noun | a (male) companion | 3 | 3 |
| re'ah, רֵעָה, H7464, noun | a female associate | 3 | 3 |
| Greek | |||
| philos, φίλος, G5384, adjective and noun | actively, fond, i.e. friendly (still as a noun, an associate, neighbor, etc.) | 27 | 26 |
| philia, φιλία, G5373, noun | fondness | 1 | 1 |
| hetairos, ἑταῖρος, G2083, noun | a comrade | 3 | 3 |
re'eh, רֵעֶה, H7463, noun, re'ah, רֵעָה, H7464, noun, Greek, philos, φίλος, G5384, adjective and noun, philia, φιλία, G5373, noun, hetairos, ἑταῖρος, G2083, noun
Rea and philos book by book1 figure
Proverbs carries rea more than any other book, and Luke carries philos in more verses than the rest of the New Testament together.
| Book | Verses |
|---|---|
| Rea (H7453) in the Hebrew Bible | |
| Proverbs | 30 |
| Jeremiah | 20 |
| Exodus | 18 |
| Deuteronomy | 16 |
| Job | 14 |
| Psalms | 8 |
| Genesis | 7 |
| Zechariah | 7 |
| 1 Samuel | 6 |
| Ezekiel | 6 |
| Judges | 5 |
| Isaiah | 5 |
| Leviticus | 4 |
| 2 Samuel | 4 |
| 1 Kings | 3 |
| 2 Kings | 3 |
| Philos (G5384) in the New Testament | |
| Luke | 14 |
| John | 6 |
| Acts | 3 |
| James | 2 |
| Matthew | 1 |
Psalms, Genesis, Zechariah, 1 Samuel, Ezekiel, Judges, Isaiah, Leviticus and 9 more
The Friend Who Loves
Three sayings of Proverbs and two titles of Abraham carry the participle 'ohev.
Proverbs 17:17 reads be-khol 'et 'ohev ha-rea, with the participle 'ohev, loving, beside ha-rea, the friend.
The friend “who stays closer than a brother” in Proverbs 18:24 is 'ohev davek, one who loves and cleaves. In Proverbs 27:6 “The wounds of a friend” are pitz'ei 'ohev, the wounds of one who loves.
“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—God calls Abraham 'ohavi, the participle with the ending my, so in Hebrew Abraham is the one who loves Him.
In 2 Chronicles 20:7 a prayer gives Abraham the same title with the ending your, 'ohavkha: “Abraham Your friend” (2 Chronicles 20:7).
Alluph, Chaber, Re'eh and Merea
Each rarer noun has its own range, from the friend who betrays to the friend at court.
Alluph is glossed chief in most of its uses, chiefly the chiefs of Edom in Genesis 36, and close friend in seven verses. The two senses belong to one word, and neither explains the other.
Proverbs uses alluph of a friendship gossip breaks: “a gossip divides close friends” (Proverbs 16:28). Proverbs 17:9 has the same phrase, mafrid 'aluf, separating a close friend.
But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and close friend.The psalmist names the man who turned on him 'alufi, my close friend, so alluph here names the friend who betrays.
I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.The psalmist calls himself chaver to all who fear God, so the companion of this verse is bound to others by a shared faith.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 uses chaber of the one who raises a fallen man: “his companion can lift him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:10).
Re'eh stands in 2 Samuel 15:37, which names Hushai as “David’s friend” (2 Samuel 15:37). Merea is the word of Proverbs 19:7, where the friends of a poor man keep their distance from him.
Choosing Company
Proverbs uses a verb of keeping company for the friends a person chooses.
Proverbs 13:20 uses the verb ra'ah in ro'eh khesilim, the friend of fools, and sets him against the man who walks with the wise: “the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).
Proverbs 18:24 opens with a play on words, 'ish re'im le-hitro'ea, a man of companions is to be broken, where the verb is tagged ra'a, to break. The Berean follows that tag with “A man of many companions may come to ruin” (Proverbs 18:24).
The King James takes the verb another way and makes the line a counsel that a man with friends must show himself friendly.
Philos in the Gospels
The Fourth Gospel holds six uses of the noun, three of them in John 15.
John uses philos of the bridegroom's friend (John 3:29), of Lazarus (John 11:11) and of Caesar's friend (John 19:12). In John 15:13 Jesus speaks of ton philon autou, his friends, and in John 15:14 He says humeis philoi mou este, “You are My friends” (John 15:14). In John 15:15 He sets humas de eireka philous, “But I have called you friends” (John 15:15), against doulous, servants.
Cautions in Reading the Words
Two cautions keep a reader from drawing more from these words than their uses carry.
The STEP Bible lexicon files to befriend with ra'ah, to tend a flock, but a root cannot decide what one use means. James Barr made that case in The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford University Press, 1961).
The record of ra'ah is mixed. It is labelled a proper noun of a place and glossed to tend a flock, and only five of its uses carry a gloss of keeping company.
Friend of God, Friend of the World
James uses philos of Abraham and of the man who chooses the world.
James 2:23 reads philos theou eklethe, a friend of God he was called, after it quotes Genesis 15:6.
James 4:4 uses philia and philos of friendship with the world: “friendship with the world is hostility toward God” (James 4:4).
Philos belongs to the family of the verb phileo, which the study of the words of love treats with John 21.
Read the study of The Words Agape, Philia, Chesed and Ahavah
Voices on Abraham's Title
A bishop of the fourth century and a commentator of the eighteenth read the title James gives Abraham.
died 386 · Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem, in his fifth Catechetical Lecture, dates the title to Abraham's faith.
Read the page on Cyril of Jerusalem
“Abraham was justified not by works but by faith. For although he had done many good things, he was not called a friend of God until he believed, and every one of his deeds was perfected by faith.”
Cyril of Jerusalem · Catechetical Lecture 5:5 · on James 2:23Patristic
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, reads the title as a mark of favour.
Read the page on Matthew Henry
“And thus he became the friend of God. Faith, producing such works, endeared him to the divine Being, and advanced him to very peculiar favours and intimacies with God. It is a great honour done to Abraham that he is called and counted the friend of God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on James 2:23Puritan
Was the Greeting to Judas a Reproach?
Origen and John Gill read in two ways the word Friend that Jesus spoke to Judas.
Every use of hetairos stands in Matthew, each addressed to someone who has done wrong. They are the grumbling worker of Matthew 20:13, the guest without wedding clothes of Matthew 22:12, and Judas in Matthew 26:50.
“Friend,” Jesus replied, “do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him.Jesus speaks the word as Judas arrives with the men who arrest Him, which is why readers ask whether it rebukes or still invites.
A rebuke of hypocrisyOrigen, in the Catena Aurea
Origen, as Thomas Aquinas's Catena Aurea prints him, wrote, “He says, Friend, upbraiding his hypocrisy; for in Scripture we never find this term of address used to any of the good”.
The objection: Jesus had kept Judas at His table, and the word may carry that history as much as rebuke.
The address of a familiar friendJohn Gill
John Gill read it “Not in an ironical and sarcastic way”, holding that Christ “had always used him as his friend”.
The objection: Matthew gives the same address only to the grumbling worker and the guest without wedding clothes, and both are rebuked.
Friends by Name
John's third letter closes with greetings passed between friends.
Instead, I hope to see you soon and speak with you face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send you greetings. Greet each of our friends there by name.The elder's closing shows friendship kept by letter across a distance.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible TBESH and TBESG glosses (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0), the Greek glosses and senses based on Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922)
- STEP Bible, Translators Amalgamated Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament, the tagged texts (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Leviticus 19:18.
- James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford University Press, 1961)
- Cyril of Jerusalem (died 386), Catechetical Lectures, lecture 5, section 5.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on James 2:23.
- Origen (died 253), as Thomas Aquinas prints him in the Catena Aurea, on Matthew 26:50.
- John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746 to 1748), on Matthew 26:50.
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