2 Corinthians 6:15

6:15 the devil: Greek Beliar. This Hebrew word means “worthless, good-for-nothing”; in the intertestamental period it came to be used as a name for Satan.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 6:15. Βελιαρ, Belial) The LXX. always express in Greek words the Hebrew, בליעל; but here Paul uses the Hebrew word for the purpose of Euphemism [avoiding something unpleasant by the use of a term less strictly appropriate]. This word is an appellative, 1Sa 25:25, and occurs for the first time in Deu 13:14. Hiller, Onom. S. p. 764. Belijahal, without ascending; i.e., of the meanest condition, of a very low and obscure rank. Paul calls Satan Belial. Nevertheless Satan is usually put ir antithesis to God, Antichrist to Christ. Wherefore Belial as being opposed to Christ, seems here also to denote all manner of Antichristian uncleanness.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_6:15. The five different shades given to the notion of fellowship vouch for the command which the apostle had over the Greek language.

Regarding the use of δέ before a new question with the same word of interrogation, see Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 169.

Βελίαρ] Name of the devil (the Peshito has Satan), properly בְּלְיַּעַל (wickedness, as concrete equivalent to Πονηρός); hence the reading Βελίαλ (Elzevir, Lachmann) is most probably a correction. The form βελίαρ, which also occurs frequently in the Test. XII. Patr. (see Fabricius, Pseudepigr. V. T. I. pp. 539, 587, 619, al.), in Ignatius as interpolated, in the Canon. Ap., and in the Fathers (see Wetstein, critical remarks), is to be explained from the not unfrequent interchange of λ and ρ in the common speech of the Greek Jews. In the O. T. the word does not occur as a name. See, generally, Gesenius, Thesaurus, I. p. 210.

συμφώνησις, harmony, accord, only here in the N T., not in the LXX. The Greeks say συμφωνία and σύμφωνον (with πρός, Polyb. vi. 36. 5; Plat. Lach. p. 188 D); the simple form φώνησις in Pollux ii. 111.

On μερίς, share, comp. Act_8:21. The two have no partnership with one another, possess nothing in common with one another. The believer has, in Christ, righteousness, peace, etc., all of which the unbeliever has not, and one day will have μερὶς τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων, Col_1:12. In strict logic ἢ τίς μερὶς … ἀπίστου did not belong to this series of elements of proof, since it contains the proposition itself to be proved, but it has come in amidst the lively, sweeping flow of the discourse.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 6:15 . τίς δὲ συμφώνησις κ . τ . λ .: and what concord has Christ with Belial? or what portion has a believer, sc. , a Christian (see Act 16:1 , Eph 1:1 , Col 1:2 , etc.), with an unbeliever, sc. , a heathen (see on 2Co 4:4 above)? בְּלִיעַל = worthlessness is frequently rendered παράνομος (Deu 13:13 , 1Ki 20:13 ) or ἀνομία (Psa 17:5 ) by the LXX; they never treat it as a proper name, although Theodotion does so at Jdg 19:22 , and it is so regarded in later literature ( e.g., Test. XII. Patriarch. and Orac. Sibyll. , iii., 63, 73). Here it is the personification of ἀνομία , just as Christ is the personification of δικαιοσύνη ; the contrast is that between Christ and Satan ( cf. 1Co 10:21 ). See Charles’ Ascension of Isaiah , pp. lv. ff., for the identification of Beliar with Satan. The Hebrew form, Belial , with a substitution of r for l , is written βελίαρ in the best Greek MSS. (see crit. note).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What can there be between them?

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Belial--Hebrew, "worthlessness, unprofitableness, wickedness." As Satan is opposed to God, and Antichrist to Christ; Belial being here opposed to Christ, must denounce all manner of Antichristian uncleanness [BENGEL].

he that believeth with an infidel--Translate, "a believer with an unbeliever."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15. What concord has Christ with Belial? As to the etymology of the word Belial, even the Hebrews themselves are not agreed The meaning, however, is not doubtful. For Moses takes a word or thought of Belial to mean a wicked and base thought, and in various instances those who are wicked and abandoned to iniquity, are called men, or sons of Belial. (Deuteronomy 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Samuel 2:12.) Hence it is, that Paul has employed the word here to mean the devil, the head of all wicked persons. For from what holds good as to the two heads, he comes down without delay to the members: “As there is an irreconcilable variance between Christ and Satan, so we also must keep aloof from partnership with the wicked.” When, however, Paul says that a Christian has no participation with an unbeliever, he does not mean as to food, clothing, estates, the sun, the air, as I have mentioned above, but as to those things that are peculiar to unbelievers, from which the Lord has separated us.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) What concord hath Christ with Belial?—The passage is remarkable as being the only occurrence of the name in the New Testament, all the more so because it does not appear in the Greek version of the Old. The Hebrew word signifies “vileness, worthlessness;” and the “sons of Belial” (as in Deu_13:13; 1Sa_2:12; 1Sa_25:17) were therefore the worthless and the vile. The English version, following the Vulgate, translates the phrase as though Belial were a proper name, and this has led to the current belief, as shown in Milton’s poems, that it was the name of a demon or fallen angel, the representative of impurity—

“Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd,

Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love

Vice for itself.”—Paradise Lost, i. 490.

“Belial, the dissolutest spirit that fell,

The sensualest, and, after Asmodai,

The fleshliest incubus.”—Paradise Regained, ii. 204.

St. Paul’s use of the word would seem to imply that some such belief was floating among the Jews in his time. A strange legend, which possibly had a Jewish origin (it is referred to certain necromantici), is found in an obscure and forgotten book (Wierus: Pseudo-Monarchia Dæmonum), to the effect that Solomon was led by a certain woman to bow before the image of Belial, who is represented as worshipped by the Babylonians. Of that worship there is no trace in history; and Milton seems to have recognised this—

“To him no temple stood

Nor altar smoked.”

But if the name had gathered these associations round it, we can understand St. Paul’s using it as representing, or, as it were, personifying, the whole system of impure cultus that prevailed in the worship of Aphrodite at Corinth.

With an infidel.—So many later associations have gathered round the word, that it may be well to remind the reader that it does not mean, as commonly with us, one who has rejected the faith, but simply one who has not as yet received it.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Belial] This word, derived from two Hebrew ones signifying ‘of no profit,’ was used in the O.T. (e.g. Deu_13:13; 1Sa_2:12) in the phrase ‘child,’ ‘son’ or ‘daughter of Belial,’ to signify a worthless person, and generally (as in Deu_15:9, in the Hebrew) as a substantive signifying worthlessness. It seems to have been personified among the later Jews (some such personification seems clearly indicated by the language of the Apostle), and to have become a synonym for Satan. Similarly we find the idea of Belial presented in Jdg_19:22 personified by Milton in Paradise Lost, Book I. 490. But we must guard against importing the imaginations of the poet into the interpretation of the Scriptures.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?.... That is, what association, confederation, or covenant agreement can the saints, who are the temple of God, have with idols, or their worshippers? no more than the ark of the Lord had with Dagon, or Dagon with the ark; which when brought into his temple, and set by him, the idol fell down, and part of him was broke to pieces:

for ye are the temple of the living God; some copies read "we are", and so the Ethiopic version. The Corinthians, not only as particular believers, were the temples of God, both with respect to their souls and bodies, but they, as a church of Christ incorporated together, were the temple of God; wherefore the apostle does not say, ye are the "temples", but "the temple" of the living God, in allusion to the temple built by Solomon; and that in respect to him the builder of it, who was a type of Christ, the son of David, the Prince of peace, the beloved of the Lord, who was to build the temple, the Gospel church, and to bear the glory; and as Solomon's temple was built on an eminence, on Mount Moriah, so the church is built upon a rock, higher than men, than angels, than the heavens, and out of the reach of men and devils, so as to hurt and destroy it. The matter of the temple at Jerusalem were timber of cedar, and costly stones, hewed, squared, and fitted for the building, before they were brought thither; so the proper materials of a Gospel church are such as are born of incorruptible seed, and therefore comparable to cedars; and are lively stones, hewed, fitted, and squared by the Spirit and grace of God, and put and jointed in among the saints: Solomon's temple was a very stately magnificent building; it was overlaid within with pure gold, expressing the internal glory of Christ's church, which is all glorious within, having the Lord himself to be the Glory in the midst of her: the church of Christ may be compared to the temple also, for the firmness of its foundations and pillars; Christ is the foundation of his church, and that itself is the pillar and ground of truth: that temple was holy, being set apart for the worship and service of God, as the church of Christ is sanctified by the Spirit of God, and is built up a spiritual house, to offer the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise to God: it is called the "temple of God", because it is of his building, and where he dwells; "of the living God", because he has life in himself, and gives both spiritual and eternal life to his people; and in opposition to the idols of the Gentiles, who have no life in them; are representations of dead men, cannot give life, nor any of the comforts of life to their votaries; and who, by worshipping them, expose themselves to eternal death. The evidence of the saints, or church of Christ being the temple of the living God, is as follows,

as God hath said, Lev 26:11. I will dwell in them; not by his omnipresence, so he dwells everywhere; nor by his omnipotence, so he dwells in, and with all his creatures, supporting them by the word of his power; but by his Spirit and grace, or by his spiritual and gracious presence, which he favours his people with, in the use of ordinances, and where according to his promises they may expect it:

and walk in them. This denotes the communion God is pleased to afford his church and people, and that gracious presence of his with them, whilst they are sojourners here, and passing on to the heavenly glory; as God is said to "walk in a tent and tabernacle" with the "Israelites", whilst they were travelling through the wilderness to Canaan; so he walks in his temple, and with his church and people, whilst they are travelling home to the heavenly Canaan; he walks in them, as in his court and palace, or as in his garden, where he takes much pleasure and delight, and great notice and care of them. R. Solomon Jarchi explains the phrase in Lev 26:12 "I will walk among you", thus; I will walk with you in the garden of Eden, or paradise, as one of you, and ye shall not be afraid of me: but the passage regards the presence of God with his people here, and not hereafter:

and I will be their God; not as the God of nature and providence only, but as the God of all grace; as their covenant God and Father in Christ; which is the greatest happiness that can be enjoyed:

and they shall be my people: his special people, loved by him with a peculiar love, on whom he bestows peculiar blessings; and who are made a willing people, willing to be his people by powerful grace, and are formed for himself, his service, and glory: hence it follows,

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

Ver. 15. What concord hath Christ] Those moderators that plead for a correspondence with Popery, would make a pretty show if there were no Bible. But if these reconcilers (as Franciscus de Sancta Clara, and his adherents) were the wisest men under heaven, and should live to the world’s end, they would be brought to their wits’ end before they could accomplish this work’s end, to make a reconciliation between Christ and Antichrist, between Rome and us. What harmony or concord, saith our apostle, can be between such they can never fall in, or make music together in one choir.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And what concord - (συμφώνησις sumphōnēsis). Sympathy, unison. This word refers properly to the unison or harmony produced by musical instruments, where there is a chord. What accordance, what unison is there; what strings are there which being struck will produce a chord or harmony? The idea is, then, there is as much that is discordant between Christ and Belial as there is between instruments of music that produce only discordant and jarring sounds.

Hath Christ - What is there in common between Christ and Belial, implying that Christians are governed by the principles, and that they follow the example of Christ.

Belial - Βελίαλ Belial or Βελίαρ Beliar, as as it is found in some of the late editions. The form Beliar is Syriac. The Hebrew word בּליּצל beliya‛al means literally without profit; worthlessness; wickedness. It is here evidently applied to Satan. The Syriac translates it “Satan.” The idea is, that the persons to whom Paul referred, the pagan, wicked, unbelieving world, were governed by the principles of Satan, and were “taken captive by him at his will” (2Ti 2:26 compare Joh 8:44), and that Christians should be separate from the wicked world, as Christ was separate from all the feelings, purposes, and plans of Satan. He had no participation in them; he formed no union with them; and so it should be with the followers of the one in relation to the followers of the other.

Or what part - (μερὶς meris). Portion, share, participation, fellowship. This word refers usually to a division of an estate; Luk 10:42; Act 8:21 note; Col 1:12 note. There is no participation; nothing in common.

He that believeth - A Christian; a man the characteristic of whom it is that he believes on the Lord Jesus.

With an infidel - A man who does not believe - whether a pagan idolater, a profane man, a scoffer, a philosopher, a man of science, a moral man, or a son or daughter of gaiety. The idea is, that on the subject of religion there is no union; nothing in common; no participation. They are governed by different principles; have different feelings; are looking to different rewards; and are tending to a different destiny. The believer, therefore, should not select his partner in life and his chosen companions and friends from this class, but from those with whom he has sympathy, and with whom he has common feelings and hopes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Such as have cast off the yoke of God are called children of Belial. (John viii. 44.) Belial, in its radical signification, means without yoke. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? By Belial, in this text, very good interpreters understand the devil; judging that the apostle here opposeth Christ, who is the Head of Believers and of the church, to him who is the head of all unbelievers, and the god of the world. The term is used only in this place in the New Testament, but very often in the Old Testament, to express men notoriously wicked and scandalous, Deu 13:13; Jdg 19:22; 1Sa 1:16; 2:12; 25:17; 2Sa 16:7; 2Ch 13:7. The Hebrews themselves are not agreed in the etymology of it; Psa 101:3, a wicked thing is called a thing of Belial (as may be seen in the margin of our bibles); so as the argument is drawn from our duty of conformity to our Head; Christ hath no fellowship with the devil, therefore we ought to have no unnecessary communion with such who manifest themselves to be of their father the devil, by their doing his works; nor hath Christ any communion with the sons of Belial.

Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What part or portion, that is, what society or communion, hath a believer with one that beheveth not? What hath he to do with him? It was a usual phrase amongst the Jews, Jos 22:25,27. Some by this part understand, what portion in the life to come? In which sense it teacheth us, that we should maintain intimate and elective communion in this life only with such as we would gladly have our portion with in another life. But the most judicious interpreters think this is not intended in this place.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Christ with Belial—The contrast presented in its living representatives, the heads of the kingdom of light and of darkness.

Belial—Used in Jdg_19:22; Jdg_20:13; and 1Sa_25:25, where see notes. It there signifies worthlessness; but in later literature came to be an appellative for Satan. Bloomfield says: “Like the Hebrew בלי יעל, who will-do-no-one-any-good; that is, who will do evil to any one, the author of all evil, the evil spirit, the devil.”

Believeth… infidel—From the head personages the contrast is now brought down to the human individuals. The great boundary line between the good and bad in the universe, between light and darkness, between Christ and Satan, cuts relentlessly between the Christian and the unchristian.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Concord; literally, harmony or accord. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament or in the LXX The adjective sumphonos occurs in 1Co_7:5. Christ with Belial, (see 1Co_10:21) Belial. Here used in the form Beliar, as a proper name, because no Greek word ends in the letter t. In the Old Testament it does not stand for a person, but means "wickedness" or "worthlessness." Thus Pro_6:12 "a naughty person" is adam belial. "A son of Belial" means "a child of wickedness" by a common Hebraism. (Jud_1:19:22) And hence, since Belial only became a proper name in later days

To him no temples rose, No altars smoked.

Perhaps, as has been conjectured, this clause, which contains two such unusual words, may be a quotation. It is, however, no ground of objection that Belial does not occur elsewhere in St. Paul, for until the pastoral Epistles he only uses diabolos twice. (Eph_4:27 Eph_6:11) What part, etc.? This is not, like the other clauses, an illustration, but the statement of the fact itself which "has come in amidst the lively, sweeping flow of the discourse." With an infidel; i.e. with an unconverted Gentile.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What concord hath Christ - Whom ye serve. With Belial - To whom they belong.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? [Literally, "worthlessness," "depravity." The term is here used as a synonym for Satan, Who is the impersonation of impurity] or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. What concord hath Christ with Belial? Belial, a heathen god like Beelzebub, is used as a synonym for Satan. See Matt. 12:24. As Christ has nothing in common with Satan, how can a believer in him have a close intimacy with one who is still under the dominion of the prince of this world?

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15. Χριστοῦ (אBCP, Latt. Copt.) rather than Χριστῷ (DFGKL, Syrr.), and Βελίαρ (אBCLP) rather than Βελίαν (DK, some cursives and plurimi codices known to Jerome).

15. τίς δὲ συμφώνησις Χριστοῦ πρὸς Βελίαρ; And what concord is there of Christ with Belial? There can be no harmony between the perfection of holiness and the spirit of heathen impurity. ‘Belial’ in the O.T. is frequent and has various meanings. Its original meaning may be either ‘worthlessness’ or ‘hopeless ruin’; its secondary meaning, either ‘destruction’ or’ extreme wickedness.’ Between the O.T. and the N.T. ‘Belial’ or ‘Beliar’ came to be a proper name = Satan, and perhaps we have the transition to this use in ‘the wicked one’ of Nah 1:15. We find it thus employed in the Book of Jubilees, and often in the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs, where it is connected with the spirit of impurity (Reub. 4, 6; Sim. 5), deceit (Levi 3; Judah 25; Benj. 6), darkness (Levi 18), anger (Daniel 1). There, as in the best MSS. here, the form Βελίαρ is used. Another variation is βερίαρ. In the Sibylline Oracles the name indicates Nero. The Fathers commonly interpret it by ἀποστάτης and use it of Satan. See Chase, The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church, p. 87.

τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου; Here there is a verbal antithesis, and the A.V. destroys it by turning ‘unbeliever’ (2Co 6:14) into ‘infidel.’ What portion (Luk 10:42; Act 8:21) is there for a believer (1Ti 5:16; Act 16:1) with an unbeliever (Joh 20:27). Comp. μετὰ μοιχῶν τὴν μερίδα σου ἐτίθεις (Psa 49:18). For the true Christian μερίς see Col 1:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] After a question beginning with πῶς, τίς, and the like, a second question is regularly introduced by δέ. Thus Hom. Od. α. 225, τίς δαίς, τίς δὲ ὅμιλος; see Hartung, Partikellehre, i. 169.

βελίαρ] Heb. בְּלִיַּעַל, ‘contemptibleness,’ ‘wickedness:’ found 1Sa 2:12 al., and variously translated by the LXX. Theod. has retained the original form in Jdg 19:22. It appears to have been subsequently personified, and used, as here, for a name of the Evil One (see Stanley). The termination -αρ is stated by Meyer to have arisen from the frequent permutation of λ and ρ in the dialect of the Grecian Jews.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. τίς δέ συμφώνησις χριστοῦ πρὸς βελίαρ; In the first couplet of questions we have abstract terms, in the second, concrete; ‘And what concord is there of Christ with Belial?’ The Head of the Heavenly society is opposed to the Head of the infernal kingdom, the Pattern of perfect purity to the representative of devilish abominations. But is it possible that ‘Beliar’ here is Antichrist? ‘What harmony can there be of Christ with Antichrist?’ The antithesis is attractive rather than probable; but Bousset treats it as certain, and Antichrist is here represented as the devil incarnate. The Sun of righteousness and the Prince of darkness is the probable antithesis. In O.T. ‘Belial’ is often mentioned as meaning ‘worthlessness,’ ‘ruin,’ ‘desperate wickedness.’ Later, ‘Belial’ or ‘Beliar’ or ‘Berial’ comes to be a name for Satan or some Satanic power. In the Book of Jubilees (1:20) Moses prays, “Create in Thy people an upright spirit, and let not the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before Thee.” In the Testaments it is connected with various evil spirits, e.g. of impurity (Reub. 4:11, 6:3; Sim. 5:3), wrath (Dan 1:7, Dan 1:8), and so forth. “Choose, therefore, for yourselves either the light or the darkness, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar” (Lev 19:1).

The interchange of λ and ρ is not uncommon; e.g. κλίβανος and κρίβανος, γλώσσαλγος and γλώσσαργος. Alcibiades had a lisp which turned ρ into λ, saying ὀλᾷς for ὁρᾷς, κόλαζ for κόραζ κ.τ.λ. (Aristoph. Vesp. 45). ‘Inferior texts here have Βελίαλ, or Βελἰαν, or Βελίαβ; Vulg. Belial. In LXX it is translated ἀνόμημα, ἀνομία, ἀποστασία, παράνομος, and in the A text ἀσεβής. For the Beliar myth see Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, pp. liv f. ξριστοῦ (א B C P, d e f Copt.) is to be preferred to ξριστῷ (D E G K L, g Syrr.). Note that d e differ from D E.

τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου; Here we have a verbal antithesis, and AV obliterates it; ‘he that believeth with an infidel.’ Better, ‘What portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?’ (RV). Comp. 1Ti 5:16 and Act 16:1 with Joh 20:27. Μερίς suggests that there is a whole to be shared (Act 8:21). Cf. μετὰ μοιχῶν τὴν μερίδα σου έίθεις (Psa_93 [1.] 18). It is certain that πιοτῷ does not mean ‘one who is faithful,’ viz. God; πιστὸς κύριος ἐν τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ. Fidelis Dominus in omnibus verbis suis (Psa 144 [v.] 13).*

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Concord [συμφωνησις] . Only here in the New Testament. From sun together, fwnh voice. Primarily of the concord of sounds. So the kindred sufwnia, A. V., music, see on Luk 14:25. Compare sumfwnov with consent, 1Co 7:5; and sumfwnew to agree, Mt 18:19; Luk 5:36, etc.

Belial [βελιαρ] . Beliar. Belial is a transcript of the Hebrew, meaning worthlessness or wickedness. The Septuagint renders it variously by transgressor, impious, foolish, pest. It does not occur in the Septuagint as a proper name. The form Beliar, which is preferred by critics, is mostly ascribed to the Syriac pronunciation of Belial, the change of l into r being quite common. Others, however, derive from Belyar, Lord of the forest. Here a synonym for Satan. Stanley remarks that our associations with the word are colored by the attributes ascribed to Belial by Milton (" Paradise Lost, " B. 2.), who uses the word for sensual profligacy.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.