Vanity

VIEW:15 DATA:01-04-2020

VANITY.—The root-idea of the word is ‘emptiness.’ Skeat suggests that the Lat. vanus (perhaps for vac-nus) is allied to vacuus ‘empty.’ In English literature ‘vanity’ signifies (1) emptiness, (2) falsity, (3) vainglory. The modern tendency is to confine its use to the last meaning. But ‘vanity’ in the sense of ‘empty conceit’ is not found in the English Bible.
1. In the OT.—(1) ‘Vanity’ is most frequently the tr. [Note: r. Textus Receptus.] of hebhel, ‘breath’ or ‘vapour.’ The RV [Note: Revised Version.] rightly gives the literal rendering in Isa_57:13 : ‘a breath (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] vanity) shall carry them all away.’ The word naturally became an image of, what is unsubstantial and transitory; in Psa_144:4 man is said to be ‘like a breath’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), because ‘his days are as a shadow that passeth away.’ In Ecclesiastes ‘vanity’ often occurs; it connotes what is fleeting, unsatisfying, and profitless. ‘Vanity of vanities’ (Ecc_1:2; Ecc_12:8) is the superlative expression of the idea of the futility of life. Jeremiah regards idols as ‘vanity,’ because they are ‘the work of delusion’ (Jer_10:15), ‘lies and things wherein there is no profit’ (Jer_16:19). (2) Another Heb. word (’âven), whose root-meaning is ‘breath’ or ‘nothingness,’ is twice rendered ‘vanity’ in the RV [Note: Revised Version.] , and is applied to idols (Isa_41:29, Zec_10:2). But ’âven generally describes moral evil as what is naughty and worthless; the RV [Note: Revised Version.] therefore substitutes ‘iniquity’ for ‘vanity’ in Job_15:35, Psa_10:7; cf. Isa_58:9. (3) More frequently, however, ‘vanity’ is the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of shav’, which also signifies ‘what is naught.’ In the OT it is used to set forth vanity as that which is hollow, unreal, and false. In Psa_41:6 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘he speaketh falsehood’ is preferable; but the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘he speaketh vanity’ exemplifies the close connexion between vain or empty words and lies (cf. Psa_12:2; Psa_144:8, Job_35:13, Pro_30:8, Eze_13:8; Eze_22:28). (4) ‘Vanity’ occurs twice as the rendering of rîq ‘emptiness,’ and refers to what is destined to end in failure (Psa_4:2, Hab_2:13). (5) In the RV [Note: Revised Version.] it is used for tôhû ‘waste,’ but the marginal alternative in all passages but one (Isa_59:4) is ‘confusion’ (Isa_40:17; Isa_40:23; Isa_44:9).
2. In the NT.—‘Vain’ is the rendering of (a) kenos ‘empty,’ (b) mataios ‘worthless.’ When the former word is used, stress is laid on the absence of good, especially in essential qualities. The true thought is suggested by the RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘void’ in 1Co_15:10; 1Co_15:14; 1Co_15:58. A partial exception is Jam_2:20—a rare example of the absolute use of the word. The ‘vain man’ is not only ‘one in whom the higher wisdom has found no entrance,’ but he is also ‘one who is puffed up with a vain conceit of his own spiritual insight’ (Trench, NT Synonyms, p. 181). Even here the primary negative force of the word is clearly discernible; the man’s conceit is ‘vain,’ that is to say, his conception of himself is devoid of real content. He is a ‘man who cannot be depended on, whose deeds do not correspond to his words’ (Mayor, Com. in loc.). kenos is the word rendered ‘vain’ in the NT, except in the passages cited in the next paragraph.
When ‘vain’ is the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of mataios, as in 1Co_3:20; 1Co_15:17, Tit_3:9, Jam_1:26, 1Pe_1:18 (cf. the adverb Mat_15:9, Mar_7:7), more than negative blame is implied. ‘By giving prominence to objectlessness it denotes what is positively to be rejected, bad.… In Biblical Greek the word is, in the strongest sense, the expression of perfect repudiation’ (Cremer, Bib.-Theol. Lexicon of NT Greek, pp. 418, 781). In 1Co_15:14 the reference (kenos) is to ‘a hollow witness, a hollow belief,’ to a gospel which is ‘evacuated of all reality,’ and to a faith which has ‘no genuine content.’ But in 1Co_15:17 the reference (malaios) is to a faith which is ‘frustrate,’ or ‘void of result,’ because it does not save from sin (cf. Findlay, EGT [Note: Expositor’s Greek Testament.] , in loc.).
‘Vanity’ occurs only three times in the NT (Rom_8:20, Eph_4:17, 2Pe_2:18); it is always the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of mataiotçs, which is not a classical word, but is often found in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , especially as the rendering of hebhel ‘breath’ (see above). When St. Paul describes the creation as ‘subject to vanity’ (Rom_8:20), he has in mind the marring of its perfection and the frustration of its Creator’s purpose by sin; nevertheless, the groanings of creation are, to his ear, the utterance of its hope of redemption. When he says that ‘the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind’ (Eph_4:17), he is dwelling on the futility of their intellectual and moral gropings, which is the result of their walking in darkness (Eph_4:18). In 2Pe_2:18 the intimate connexion between unreality and boastfulness in speech is well brought out in the graphic phrase, ‘great swelling words of vanity.’ How pitiful the contrast between the high-sounding talk of the false teachers who were themselves ‘bond-servants of corruption,’ and yet had the effrontery to ‘promise liberty’ to those whom in reality they were bringing into bondage (2Pe_2:19).
J. G. Tasker.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


(as a rendering of several Heb. words, Gr. ματαιότης) occurs in Scripture only in the Latin sense of emptiness, and is often applied to this world, as unsatisfactory (Ecc_1:2); to lying (Psa_4:2); to idols (Deu_32:21); to whatever disappoints our hopes (Psa_60:11). In ordinary language the term is applied to the man who wishes you to think more highly of him than what he really deserves. Hence the vain' man flatters in order to be flattered; is always fond of praise; endeavors to bribe others into a good opinion of himself by his complaisance, and sometimes even by good offices, though often displayed with unnecessary ostentation. SEE PRIDE.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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