Deny (720) arneomai by Greek Word Studies

Deny (720) (arneomai from "a" = negation + rheo = say) literally means "to say no", to say one does not know about or is in any way related to some person or some thing. Webster says that to deny implies a firm refusal to accept as true, to grant or concede or to acknowledge the existence or claims of. Arneomai is used 33 uses in the NT (Matt. 10:33; 70" class="scriptRef">26:70, 72; Mk. 14:68, 70; Lk. 8:45; 9:23; 12:9; 22:57; Jn. 1:20; 13:38; 18:25, 27; Acts 3:13, 14; 4:16; 7:35; 1Ti 5:8; 2Ti 2:12f; 3:5; Titus 1:16; 2:12; Heb. 11:24; 2Pe 2:1; 1Jn. 2:22f; Jude 1:4; Rev. 2:13; 3:8) and is translated: denied(9), denies(4), deny(13), denying(3), disowned(3), refused(1). It is used once in the Septuagint (LXX) (Ge 18:15) Genesis 18:15 Sarah denied it however, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh." Arneomai means to refuse to consent to something or reject something offered. For example By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (see note Hebrews 11:24) Moses learned that it is not the possession of things, but the refusing and forsaking of them that brings rest, resting ultimately by faith in the promises of God. The decisions we make today (including those things we "deny") will determine the rewards of tomorrow. Our instructor grace will empower us to deny the temporal for the eternal. Arneomai means to state that something is not true. E.g., the Jewish council seeking to punish Peter and John, said "What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it." (Acts 4:16). Arneomai means to disclaim association with a person or event (repudiate, disown, verbally or non-verbally). E.g., John asks the rhetorical question "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies (present tense = continual, habitual denial, not just a momentary lapse) the Father and the Son." (1Jn 2:22) Jude warns that "certain persons have crept in unnoticed (secretly, stealthily, subtly insinuating themselves), those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly (corrupt in doctrine, depraved in conduct) persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness (unrestrained vice, gross immorality) and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4) Similarly Paul earlier had earlier describe some in Crete who would "(continually) profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny (present tense = the habit of their life, continually disown and renounce) Him (by their actions), being detestable (loathsome, root word means to "stink"!) and disobedient, and worthless (unable to do anything that pleases God) for any good deed." (see note Titus 1:16) C S Lewis was correct when he said that "Of all bad men religious bad men are the worse." Arneomai means to say "no" to oneself in order to live wholly for Christ. Luke records Jesus' declaration that If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Lk 9:23) John MacArthur remarks that to deny carries the idea of a conscious, purposeful action of the will. It means to say "no". It is to confess and consciously turn away from that which is sinful and destructive and to move toward that which is good and godly. It includes the commitment a believer makes when he first acknowledges his sin and receives Christ as Savior and Lord as well as the countless other decisions he makes to deny and forsake the ungodliness and worldly desires that continue to find their way back into his life. (MacArthur. Titus: Moody Press) The aorist tense of deny (arneomai) calls for a definite, effective refusal, renunciation and turning away from whatever is ungodly, corrupting and destructive. By saying "Yes" to Jesus in salvation, we are now empowered (and obligated - see Ro 8:12, 13-notes Ro 8:12; 13) to say "No" to the powerful, pervasive ungodly and worldly desires that continue to bombard our mind. Before salvation, when we were in Adam and the power of sin ruled over us, this denial was an IM-possibility but now that we are in Christ it is a HIM-possibility. The same grace that saved us now trains us in God's school of holiness. As MacDonald puts it there are “No-No’s” in that school which we must learn to renounce. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson) Deny is middle voice which is reflexive (Webster defines "reflexive" as of, relating to, or constituting an action [as in “he perjured himself”] directed back on the agent or the grammatical subject) and indicates that we ourselves initiate the action of denying and then experience participating in results of that action. GRACE DOES NOT LEAD TO LICENTIOUSNESS! It is also worth noting that this section of Titus directly counters the false assumption that too much emphasis on grace begets a licentious lifestyle. To the contrary, Paul refutes this misconception, stating that far from promoting licentiousness, grace actually teaches the saint to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts! Grace is "free" but it's not "cheap". When one truly understands God's grace, he is faced with the truth that grace calls for ("instructs") certain ethical demands. Salvation is not only being set from the penalty of sin (past tense salvation or justification) but being set free from the slavery of sin (present tense salvation or sanctification). It is not just a change in position from "in Adam" to "in Christ", from in the kingdom of darkness and dominion of Satan to the kingdom of light ruled by the Lord Jesus (as good as those truths are), but practically speaking, the salvation that grace brings also includes a change in attitude, appetite, ambition, and action. The same "grace of God" that redeemed us, now daily reforms us and conforms us more and more into "the image of His Son". (Ro 8:29-note) What does this act of denial of ungodliness and worldly desires look like? There are multiple passages that describe our new power over sin, the world and the devil and the responsibility we now have to walk in a manner worthy (holy walking that "balances" our high calling) of the calling with which we have been called" (see note Ephesians 4:1). Here are a few passages with brief comments: Romans 6: Paul explains to the Roman saints that in light of their death to the power of the sin nature, now they are charged to not let sin reign (as a king - the sinful nature is a dethroned monarch) in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts (implying that temptations will continue to come in the form of strong desires, but that now believers don't have to yield, instead putting into practice the power made possible by Christ's triumph over sin at Calvary), and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (which parallels negative instruction of grace to deny ungodliness, etc) but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (which parallels the positive instruction of grace to live sensibly, etc). For sin shall not be master over you (implying that sin can still exercise control in our bodies, but it does not have to reign there - we all occasionally let sin take over but that's not to be our habitual practice), for you are not under law, but under grace. (see notes Romans 6:12; 6:13; 6:14) As Denney puts it It is not restraint but inspiration that liberates from sin; not Mount Sinai but Mount Calvary which makes saints. Romans 8: Paul explains how to deny ungodliness writing to the Romans saints that we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you are living (habitually) according to the flesh, you must die but if by the Spirit you are (habitually) putting to death the deeds of the body, you will (really and genuinely) live. (see notes Romans 8:12; 8:13) Phillips paraphrases it - Cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying the Spirit (Phillips: Touchstone) Wiersbe notes that... It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us! Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor) MacArthur adds that the Spirit provides us with the energy and power to continually and gradually be killing our sins, a process never completed in this life. The means the Spirit uses to accomplish this process is our faithful obedience to the simple commands of Scripture. (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word Pub) Looked at from another viewpoint Paul is saying that life lived under the tutelage of "the Spirit of Grace" will demonstrate itself in the way one conducts himself or herself in daily life. How are you doing? Romans 13: The night (spiritual darkness, man's depravity, Satan's dominion) is almost gone (hastening to a close, time is short compared to eternity), and the day (dawning of Messiah's return and reign) is at hand. (Motivated by the imminence of Christ's return) Let us therefore lay aside (fling off like filthy clothes, confess, repent, forsake, renounce, deny ~ the "negative" aspect of the process of daily sanctification) the deeds (sins) of darkness (everything evil and opposed to God) and put on ("positive" side of daily sanctification) the armor (or weapons both apropos terms for saints on earth are still at war with sin and Satan) of light (protection provided by practical righteousness and a holy life). Let us behave properly (live decently, a lifestyle pleasing to God) as in the (open light of) day (parallels "live sensibly, etc"), not in carousing (wild parties, sexual orgies, brawls, riots) and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy (parallels deny "ungodliness, etc"). But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (feed your inner man His Word), and make no provision for the flesh (demands a deliberate denial and turning away from desires to indulge the flesh) in regard to its lusts. (see notes Romans 13:12; 13:13; 13:14) 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises (Context = 2Cor 6:17,18), beloved, let us cleanse ourselves (parallels "deny ungodliness") from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting (as our habitual practice = a process, daily sanctification) holiness (parallels "live sensibly") in the fear of God. 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain (continually) from fleshly lusts, which wage war (continually strategize) against the soul. (note) MacArthur comments that Fleshly lusts are personified as if they were an army of rebels or guerrillas who incessantly search out and try to destroy the Christian’s joy, peace and usefulness. (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word Pub) Instructed by the grace of God, deny these "rebels" entry into the fortress of your mind, remembering that they gain entry especially through the "eye gate." God through His prophet Isaiah had a similar "negative/positive" charge to Israel (although it was in the context of national/personal unfaithfulness) saying "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Reprove the ruthless. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16, 17) (Comment: "The true learning of heaven must begin with the unlearning and laying off of all which stands in the way of the development of the new man.”) Paul says that grace instructs saints to make a conscious, willful repudiation of thoughts, words, and actions that are opposed to true godliness. Spurgeon asks... What have we to deny? First, we have to deny ungodliness. That is a lesson which many of you have great need to learn. Listen to working-men. “Oh,” they say, “we have to work hard, we cannot think about God or religion.” This is ungodliness! The grace of God teaches us to deny this; we come to loathe such atheism. Others are prospering in the world, and they cry, “If you had as much business to look after as I have, you would have no time to think about your soul or another world. Trying to battle with the competition of the times leaves me no opportunity for prayer or Bible-reading; I have enough to do with my day-book and ledger.” This also is ungodliness! The grace of God leads us to deny this; we abhor such forgetfulness of God. A great work of the Holy Spirit is to make a man godly, to make him think of God, to make him feel that this present life is not all, but that there is a judgment to come, wherein he must give an account before God. God cannot be forgotten with impunity. If we treat Him as if He were nothing, and leave Him out of our calculations for life, we shall make a fatal mistake. O my hearer, there is a God, and as surely as you live, you are accountable to Him. When the Spirit of God comes with the grace of the gospel, He removes our inveterate ungodliness, and causes us to deny it with joyful earnestness. (From Spurgeon's sermon Two Appearings & the Discipline of Grace) Ungodliness obviously refers to the person who is openly immoral or evil, but it also includes the outwardly nice person who simply has no place for God in his life. His everyday life is organized, motivated, and run by self, with no place for God. The person who has tasted God’s grace will say no to such godless living. (Cole) A W Pink says that... Ungodliness is failing to give God His due place in our hearts and lives. It is disregarding His precepts and commands. It is having preference for the creature, loving pleasure more than holiness; being unconcerned whether my conduct pleases or displeases the Lord. There are many forms of ungodliness besides that of open infidelity and the grosser crimes of wickedness. We are guilty of ungodliness when we are prayerless. We are guilty of ungodliness when we look to and lean upon the creature; or when we fail to see God's hand in providence—ascribing our blessings to "luck" or "chance." We are guilty of ungodliness when we grumble at the weather. (Grace Preparing for Glory)

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Deny (720) arneomai

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