While reading a book by Basil Overton, I ran across this argument, “Some have argued that the church cannot help orphans but the individual Christians must do this. They say James 1:27 is addressed to the ‘individual. James 1:27 is not addressed to the individual. “Himself” of the text is a third person pronoun. One is addressed in the second person. The truth is that James 1:27 is addressed to the church and what is said in this verse to the church is about what each in the church should do, and what is to practice pure and undefiled religion by relieving orphans and widows.”<\/p>\n
Is Basil Overton grammatically correct in his argument?<\/p>\n\t
The word being questioned is\u00a0heauton<\/i>. Grammatically, it is a personal pronoun in the accusative case, masculine in gender, and singular in number. The word is a form of the more general word,\u00a0heautou<\/i>. It is upon this more general word that Basil Overton makes his argument. Quoting from\u00a0The Complete Biblical Library, The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary<\/i>, regarding the meaning of\u00a0heautou<\/i>in all its forms:<\/p>\n “Heautou<\/i>\u00a0is a third person reflexive pronoun generally translated ‘himself.’ In classical Greek this reflexive pronoun is very common, although a contracted form\u00a0autou<\/i>\u00a0was often used rather than\u00a0heautou<\/i>. From the time of the Tragic writers onward (Sophocles, Herodotus) the pronoun was also used on occasion for the first and second person, e.g. ‘ourself.’ Likewise, there are some 70 examples of\u00a0heautou<\/i>\u00a0used for the first and second person plural pronouns in the New Testament. This reflexive pronoun is frequently spelled\u00a0heatou<\/i>\u00a0in the papyri and inscriptions.\u00a0Heautou<\/i>\u00a0is used throughout the Septuagint. Like classical Greek, the plural\u00a0heautoun<\/i>\u00a0is often used for the first and second person plural.<\/p>\n “In the New Testament\u00a0heautou<\/i>\u00a0is the common word for ‘himself,’ appearing over 320 times. Whereas older Greek often used\u00a0autou<\/i>\u00a0rather than\u00a0heautou<\/i>, this use appears only 20 times in the New Testament. The primary purpose of this reflexive pronoun is to indicate that the agent and the person acted upon are the same. …\u00a0Heautou<\/i>\u00a0is also used in the New Testament, to a much lesser extent, to express the idea of possession of very personal things. In these instances it is translated ‘his own.’ Such uses include the possession of his own life, body, soul, wife, work, flesh, and things.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n An example of the word\u00a0heauton<\/i>, used in the same sense as used in\u00a0James 1:27\u00a0is found in\u00a0Mark 12:33. “And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as\u00a0oneself<\/b>, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.<\/i>” I rather doubt that Mr. Overton would argue that this particular verse applies to group action instead of individual action.<\/p>\n Another example of the same word in the same form is found in\u00a0Luke 18:14, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts\u00a0himself<\/b>\u00a0will be humbled, and he who humbles\u00a0himself<\/b>\u00a0will be exalted.<\/i>” The context of these two words clearly shows that individual action is under consideration.<\/p>\n What Mr. Overton has done is to apply a general definition of a word to all forms of the word. Yes, in some instances\u00a0heautou<\/i>\u00a0can be translated as “themselves” or “their,” such as in\u00a0Luke 12:36\u00a0where “their” is the translation of\u00a0heaut\u00f5n,<\/i>\u00a0but notice that it is a different form of the same base word. The word form used in\u00a0James 1:27\u00a0is always translated in the singular sense.<\/p>\n See\u00a0Orphans and Their Care<\/a>\u00a0for additional information. See\u00a0The Misuse of Truth<\/a>\u00a0regarding the type of logical error made by Mr. Overton.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: While reading a book by Basil Overton, I ran across this argument, “Some have argued that the church cannot help orphans but the individual Christians must do this. They say James 1:27 is addressed to the ‘individual. James 1:27 is not addressed to the individual. “Himself” of the text is a third person pronoun.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[193,192,191,190],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-individual-vs-church","tag-liberalism","tag-orphans","tag-translation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-responsible\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":0},"title":"Who Is Responsible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Galatians 6:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the issues that has divided brethren is that of doing good. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The question is who is responsible? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One side argues that it doesn\u2019t matter, so long as the good is done. The other side argues that you cannot give away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/james-127-and-the-orphan-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":1},"title":"James 1:27 and the Orphan Home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jimmy Mickells When I obeyed the gospel in 1974, the issue of church-supported orphan homes had been debated among brethren for a good number of years. This subject, along with a discussion of colleges being supported from the treasury of the church, had already caused a great division among\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-pay-school-fees-as-an-act-of-benevolence-if-the-student-has-no-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":2},"title":"Can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, brother, can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family? Answer: \"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/orphans-and-their-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":3},"title":"Orphans and Their Care","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Orphans are not mentioned often in the New Testament, once to be precise, but many have developed unusual ideas about how to care for the orphans in our midst. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unusual, because their teaching does not follow the plain statements of the New Testament. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The passage we will delve into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27612,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-an-institution-was-not-involved-could-the-church-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":4},"title":"If an institution was not involved, could the church take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am familiar that the issues over orphan homes as always been the church giving the money to an institutional board so they can provide for the needs of the children.\u00a0 But would it be an issue if the church avoided the giving of funds to a board and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-a-new-testament-church-realize-that-we-are-our-brothers-keepers\/","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":5},"title":"Wouldn’t a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers’ keepers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: On\u00a0the home page, it says that you really don't participate in community activities, fundraisers, home missions, or anything like that, in the way I interpreted it anyway. Wouldn't a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers' keepers? And that James said faith without works is dead? 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