What is Piety?

There is an unfortunate movement on social media that criticizes piety, and some of the critics are pastors. In other words. When a born-again Christian takes a stand for orthodoxy and orthopraxy, the impious and their impiety will either socially shame the pious or use gaslighting techniques while criticizing the pious. As well as wrongfully calling them a “legalist,” “holier than thou,” or “self-righteous.”

So, what does piety mean? In short, my summarized definition¹ is this.

Biblical piety means being holy, fearing God, displaying godliness, and showing reverence and respect towards God. To be devout in our Christian beliefs and to truly worship Him. It also means to be wise, well-reverent, pious, Godly, repentant, and dutiful.

In Strong’s numerical order, below, please examine these three Greek words defining piety as a noun, a verb, and an adjective. Albeit piety and pietism are seen throughout the Scriptures far beyond my short blog post.

As a Noun

Eusebeia (yoo-seb’-i-ah), Strong’s #2150: This form of piety is seen over one dozen times in the Scriptures. It is a noun feminine, which means Godliness, a piety towards God, reverence, and respect. Reverence particularly to the Gospel scheme. This Greek word comes from Strong’s 2152.

As a Verb

Eusebeō (yoo-seb-eh’-o), Strong’s #2151: This piety is a verb which means to be pious. To act piously or to display Godliness. It demonstrates a reverential respect towards God. To be devout, and to worship Him. Also, where reverence is due (emphasis added), piety can also manifest horizontally, i.e., to authorities, magistrates, various relationships, and/or toward our family members.

As an Adjective

Eusebēs (yoo-seb-ace’), Strong’s #2152: This piety is seen four times in the Scriptures. It is an adjective, which means to be well-reverent, pious, devout, Godly, and dutiful.

Moving on

Piety, pietism, and the pious are seen throughout the Scriptures. In church history, the Puritans and the 16th-century Reformers were known as “The Pious.” Calvin wrote in his Institutes, “Embracing almost the whole sum of piety, and whatever is necessary to know of the doctrine of salvation: A work most worthy to be read by all persons zealous for piety.” Joel Beeke said, “Reformed theologians viewed piety as the heartbeat of their theology and of godly living.”

There’s nothing good about me, except the add-intra goodness of God and the righteousness of Christ. I am holy because He is holy, and He has called His elect to holiness. Frankly, without His holiness, you cannot see God (Heb. 12:14).

“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:15-16  

Words from men smarter than I

Below are more excellent descriptions of piety. From Richard Baxter, my Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, Augustine of Hippo, and Joel Beeke.

The OT calls it ‘the *FEAR of God’, or ‘the Lord’ (over 30 times), thus showing that true piety is rooted in an attitude of reverence, submission and obedience towards God. The NT calls it ‘obeying the gospel’ or ‘the truth’ (Rom. 10:16; Gal. 5:7; 2 Thes. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:22; cf. Rom. 6:16), thus characterizing piety as a response to revelation. From another standpoint, as the maintaining of a state of separation from the world and consecratedness to God, the NT calls it simply *‘HOLINESS’ (hagiasmos, hagiōsynē: see 1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thes. 3:13; etc.). Christ taught that the ‘work of God’, the single comprehensive divine requirement in which all the individual ‘works of God’ are embraced, is faith in himself (Jn. 6:28f.); and Christian piety means simply living by this faith, and living it out. Accordingly, John characterizes the piety that God commands and accepts by singling out the two features that are most essential to it, and most distinctive of it—faith in Christ, and love to Christians (1 Jn. 3:22–24).

A full analysis of NT piety would include the practical expression of faith in a life of repentance, resisting temptation and mortifying sin; in habits of prayer, thanksgiving and reverent observance of the Lord’s Supper; in the cultivation of hope, love, generosity, joy, self-control, patient endurance and contentment; in the quest for honesty, uprightness and the good of others in all human relations; in respect for divinely constituted authority in church, State, family and household. All these attitudes and practices are commanded by God, and glorify him.

Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (Practical Works), 1830, 1–5; 1838, 1); W. Mundle, W. Günther, NIDNTT 2, pp. 90–95; W. Foerster, TDNT 7, pp. 175–185.
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Piety. Often described as godly practices, spiritual habits or experiential religion, piety is a central concern of many Reformed theologians, pastors and laity. A prime example is Puritan devotional literature, which encourages dedication to prayer, fasting, Bible reading and self-examination. Reformed piety is Bible-centered and rooted in grace and the gift of faith, and as such, it has much in common with other strands of pietism within evangelicalism. Although different Reformed subtraditions emphasize particular expressions of piety, from personal holiness to social action, they are united in upholding the necessity of practical godliness as the fruit of true faith.

Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 87.
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Now, for human beings, wisdom is the same as piety. You can read this in the book of the holy man Job. There we find that Wisdom herself said to a man, Behold, piety is wisdom (Jb 28:28). If you ask what kind of piety she was speaking of in that place, you will find that the Greek expresses it more clearly as theosebeia, which is reverence toward God. There is another word for piety in Greek, eusebeia, which means good reverence, although this chiefly signifies the worship of God. But no word is more suitable to explain what human wisdom is than the one that expressly denotes worship of God. You ask me to speak briefly about great matters. Do you wish me to find an even more concise expression than this? Perhaps this is exactly what you wish me to explain briefly and to sum up in a few words: how God is to be worshiped.

Augustine of Hippo, The Augustine Catechism: The Enchiridion on Faith Hope and Charity, ed. Boniface Ramsey, trans. Bruce Harbert, vol. I, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999), 31–32.
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Piety understood in this sense is not something to be despised or shunned; rather, we are called to promote it in the Reformation teaching of holy, dependent, loving, and godly living. Being called “pious” or “pietistic” in its true sense is a compliment! If we think otherwise, we need to reconsider our definition of piety. Does our definition stem from its proper use in Scripture or from its improper application in radical Pietism and in much of contemporary society? Godliness, spirituality, or piety is not a means to an end (i.e., eternal, felicitous life), but an expression of this life merited by Jesus Christ. For this reason, the cultivation of piety is preeminently connected to the means of grace. In short, piety means experiencing sanctification as a divine, gracious work of renewal expressed in repentance and righteousness, which progresses through conflict and adversity in a Christ-like manner for all of a believer’s life, anticipating the day when piety will be perfected in eternal sanctification in heaven.

Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 849–850.
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In closing

So, you see, piety is the Christian’s way of life, or lifestyle, and I would suggest especially in the sanctuary, where the elect congregate. If a professing Christian is not pietistic, they are not reformed; they are deformed. And if they are against Pietism, I would ask them, “Are you even saved?”

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

Holy Spirit willing, as my hat reads – Make Piety Great Again!

This post is part of a What Is series I’m working on.

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1. My summary of the definition of piety was gleaned from research of various dictionaries, encyclopedias, lexicons, as well as various academic writings. Including but not limited to.
   
   Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, HGK3711, p 952
   Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 101.
   
   William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 412–413.
   
   E. T. Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, 3 vols. (1963–74), 1:551–71.
   
   Donald K. McKim and David F. Wright, “Spirituality,” in Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith (Louisville, KY; Edinburgh: Westminster/John Knox Press; Saint Andrew Press, 1992), 357.
   
   J. I. Packer, “Piety,” in New Bible Dictionary, ed. D. R. W. Wood et al. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 928.
   
   Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (Practical Works), 1830, 1–5; 1838, 1); W. Mundle, W. Günther, NIDNTT 2, pp. 90–95; W. Foerster, TDNT 7, pp. 175–185.
   
   Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 87.
   
   Rob Kugler, “Job, Book Of, Critical Issues,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
   
   Chad Brand et al., eds., “Piety,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1297.
   
   W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 471.
   
   Augustine of Hippo, The Augustine Catechism: The Enchiridion on Faith Hope and Charity, ed. Boniface Ramsey, trans. Bruce Harbert, vol. I, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999), 31–32.
   
   Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 847–850. ↩︎