Dictionaries :: Superstitious

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Superstitious:

"reverent to the deity" (deido, "to fear;" daimon, "a demon," or "pagan god"), occurs in Act 17:22 in the comparative degree, rendered "somewhat superstitious," RV (AV, "too superstitious"), a meaning which the word sometimes has; others, according to its comparative form, advocate the meaning "more religious (than others)," "quite religious" (cp. the noun in Act 25:19). This is supported by Ramsay, who renders it "more than others respectful of what is divine;" so Deissmann in Light from the Ancient East, and others. It also agrees with the meaning found in Greek writers; the context too suggests that the adjective is used in a good sense; perhaps, after all, with kindly ambiguity (Grimm-Thayer). An ancient epitaph has it in the sense of "reverent" (Moulton andMilligan).