UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: child, offspring

Semantic entry: 10.36

Semantic domains: Kinship Terms

Subdomains: Kinship Relations Involving Successive Generations

Definition: one’s immediate offspring, but without specific reference to sex or age

Notes: In languages in which there is no generic term for ‘child’ or ‘offspring,’ one may use ‘son’ or ‘daughter’ or ‘son and daughter,’ singular or plural, depending upon the context.

Sense 2: posterity, descendants, offspring

Semantic entry: 10.28

Semantic domains: Kinship Terms

Subdomains: Kinship Relations Involving Successive Generations

Definition: successive following generations of those who are biologically related to a reference person

Notes: In the case of γενεά [source selector 000002][c], τέκνον[b], and σπέρμα [source selector 000001][b] (10.29: σπέρμα), the reference is not to one’s immediate descendants or offspring (that is to say, to one’s sons or daughters) but to a successive series of such persons, one’s descendants. In some languages such descendants may be called merely ‘the children of one’s children,’ and in other languages one may refer to descendants as ‘those who follow one’ or ‘those who come later.’

Sense 3: persons of, people of

Semantic entry: 11.63

Semantic domains: Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes

Subdomains: Socio-Political

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of τέκνον[a] ‘child,’ 10.36: παῖς / 10.36: τέκνον) inhabitants of a particular place

Notes: Only rarely can one preserve the figurative significance of τέκνον[c] as a designation of the inhabitants of an area. Readers are too likely to understand such a reference as applicable only to children who live in a particular place. Even the use of a simile does not assist appreciably, since it would be interpreted as likening the inhabitants of an area to children, probably in the sense of their being immature or incapable. For example, the expression the people of Jerusalem like children would probably lead to serious misunderstanding.

Sense 4: my child, my dear friend, my dear man, my dear one, my dear lad

Semantic entry: 9.46

Semantic domains: People

Subdomains: Persons For Whom There Is Affectionate Concern

Definition: (extension of meaning of τέκνον[a] ‘child, offspring,’ 10.36: παῖς / 10.36: τέκνον) a person of any age for whom there is a special relationship of endearment and association

Notes: In a number of languages it is impossible to translate τέκνον in RV MAT 9:2 · LV MAT 9:2 · Read together MAT 9:2 as ‘child,’ since this might immediately suggest that Jesus was declaring himself to be the father of this man. Furthermore, the paralytic was evidently an adult male. A more satisfactory equivalent would be ‘my dear man’ or ‘my dear fellow.’

Sense 5: disciple

Semantic entry: 36.40

Semantic domains: Guide, Discipline, Follow

Subdomains: Follow, Be a Disciple

Definition: a person who looks to another as being, so to speak, a father in the faith and thus becomes a disciple of that person

Notes: It is also possible that τέκνον in RV JN3 1:4 · LV JN3 1:4 · Read together JN3 1:4 is to be understood simply as an affectionate way of talking about persons who in one way or another are in a dependent relationship to someone (see 9.46: παιδίον / 9.46: τεκνίον / 9.46: τέκνον / 9.46: υἱός).

Sense 6: son of, offspring of, child of, kind of, one who has the characteristics of, person of

Semantic entry: 58.26

Semantic domains: Nature, Class, Example

Subdomains: Class, Kind

Definition: a kind or class of persons, with the implication of possessing certain derived characteristics

Sense 7: sons of the light, children of the light, people of God

Semantic entry: 11.14

Semantic domains: Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes

Subdomains: Socio-Religious

Definition: (an idiom, literally: children of light) persons to whom the truth of God has been revealed and who are presumably living according to such truth. See also 9.4: υἱός and 12.15: θεός / 12.15: υἱός.

Notes: In a number of languages it is difficult to speak of ‘light’ in the metaphorical sense of the truth that comes from God. Such truth is not to be equated with knowledge, but with the principles and practices of right moral behavior. Because of these difficulties in speaking of ‘truth’ as ‘light,’ a number of translators have preferred to use the expression ‘people of God’ for the phrases υἱοὶ τοῦ φωτός, υἱοὶ τῆς ἡμέρας, and τέκνα φωτός. In some instances, however, it is possible to employ ‘light,’ if this is described as ‘light that comes from God’ or even ‘the true light from God.’

Collocations: τέκνα φωτός