The noun τιμη (time), literally means worth or dearness and may describe something that is deemed dear or valuable, but also simply the pecuniary value or purchasing price of some commercial good. Our noun comes from the verb τιω (tio), which is curiously absent from the New Testament but often used in the classics. It means to honor, revere, prize highly, or simply just price in the sense of putting a price tag on an item. When this verb is used as a legal term it means to estimate the amount of punishment due to a criminal; the price to pay.

Our noun τιμη (time), being such a pivotal word, is ubiquitous in the New Testament. It's often translated with "honor" but that may be a bit unfortunate as in our modern world this word mostly describes an incurred value and the compliance therewith, while our noun τιμη (time) represents an intrinsic value and the recognition thereof. Translators of the Bible (particularly Roman ones) were quite hung up on shows of reverence and honor, but sentiments like that rarely crossed the minds of the authors of the New Testament, especially in the sense that honor and being honored would be things to pursue. Instead the authors stressed a pursuit of practical value and usefulness, not of applause and medals. The verb φιλοτιμεομαι (philotimeomai, see below), means value-loving not honor-loving.

In the New Testament our word always has to do with the recognition of something or someone's true identity and employability (Hebrews 5:4). Husbands are not to vainly "honor" their wives (what does that mean, anyway?) but to consciously recognize their specific and particular value to the house (1 Peter 3:7; "according to knowledge"; also see 1 Thessalonians 4:4) in the same way that the kings of the earth will incorporate their specific and particular value into the workings of the City of God (Revelation 21:23-26). All this may seem terribly imperial but it really isn't. Being unemployed or underestimated is a grave assault on a person's self-esteem and employing someone is the same as confirming that person's value. The people of Malta "showed respect to" Paul and company with "many dearnesses" (Acts 28:10), but that was in response to Paul's healing half the island and just prior to the people lavishing their guests with everything they themselves required.

A prophet can't do much good in his own home town (Matthew 13:57-58), but this may not have to do with the recipients' faith or their failure to endow their cousin with garlands, but rather with that the job of a prophet was to get fresh information (from wherever and of any kind), which means that folks with really fresh material were usually foreigners and not your next door neighbor (Isaiah 28:11). Conversely, if our neighbor, who's been always exposed to the same things we have, all of a sudden starts dispensing information we have never heard of, he's most probably making them up as he goes along (Matthew 13:56; and see our article on the word πιστις, pistis, meaning faith, or sureness).

Our noun τιμη (time) may denote the fetching price of a transacted estate (Acts 4:34, 5:2, 7:16), or the monetary equivalent of goods (Acts 19:19) or people (Matthew 27:9, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23). It may denote political clout (Hebrews 3:3) or value pertaining to the quality of life (Colossians 2:23) or value pertaining to governmental quality (1 Timothy 5:17). And it may be used in the general and amorphous sense of "the good stuff" (Romans 13:7). Neither Romans 9:21 nor 2 Timothy 2:20-21 speak of honorable vessels and dishonorable vessels (come on) but of vessels with the good stuff (like costly, perfumed oil) versus similar vessels with the not-so-good stuff (a slosh of wonky olive oil). What Paul meant precisely with an "honored body part" (1 Corinthians 12:23) has never quite been made clear, but people in Paul's days had different views on certain items than we do now. Proof that a man was one with the pack appears to have been the object of frequent scrutiny and came, therefore, from a highly esteemed member (Acts 16:3).

A few times, particularly when God is the subject and our noun is in the genitive form, it describes the act of high estimation or the recognition of true identity and employability (1 Timothy 1:17, 6:16, Revelation 5:13, 7:12).

This noun is used 42 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and its derivatives are: