Dictionaries :: Austere

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Austere:

os-ter' austeros, "harsh," ("rough"): Twice used by Christ in the parable of the Pounds (Lu 19:21,22), and of special significance as illustrating the false conception of God cherished by the sinful and disobedient. The fear resident in a guilty conscience sees only sternness and severity in God's perfect righteousness. The word may be made an eminent study in the psychology of an evil heart. Wrongdoing eclipses the soul's vision of God's love and pictures His righteousness as harsh, unfeeling, partial, unjust, forbidding. The awfulness of sin may thus be seen in its power so to pervert the soul as to make goodness seem evil, justice unjust, and even love unlovely. Compare "hard" skleros, "dried up," "harsh" in the parable of the Talents (Mt 25:24).

Written by Dwight M. Pratt

King James Dictionary

Austere: Harsh; Severe; Exacting.

And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an AUSTERE man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an AUSTERE man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? (Luke 19:20-23)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Austere:

akin to auo, "to dry up" (Eng., "austere"), primarily denotes "stringent to the taste," like new wine not matured by age, unripe fruit, etc; hence, "harsh, severe," Luk 19:21, 22.

Note: Synonymous with austeros, but to be distinguished from it, is skleros (from skello, "to be dry"). It was applied to that which lacks moisture, and so is rough and disageeable to the touch, and hence came to denote "harsh, stern, hard." It is used by Matthew to describe the unprofitable servant's remark concerning his master, in the parable corresponding to that in Luke 19 (see austeros, above). Austeros is derived from a word having to do with the taste, skleros, "with the touch." Austeros is not necessarily a term of reproach, whereas skleros is always so, and indicates a harsh, even inhuman, character. Austeros is "rather the exaggeration of a virtue pushed too far, than an absolute vice" (Trench, Syn. xiv). Skleros is used of the character of a man, Mat 25:24; of a saying, Jhn 6:60; of the difficulty and pain of kicking against the ox-goads, Act 9:5; 26:14; of rough winds, Jam 3:4 and of harsh speeches, Jud 1:15.
See FIERCE, HARD. Cp. sklerotes, "hardness," skleruno, "to harden," sklerokardia, "hardness of heart," and sklerotrachelos, "stiff-necked."