Affect

Affect - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

AFFECT', v.t. [L. afficio, affectum, of ad and facio, to make; affecto, to desire, from the same room. Affect is to make to, or upon to press upon.]

1. To act upon; to produce an effect or change upon; as, cold affects the body; loss affects our interests.

2. To act upon, or move the passions; as, affected with grief.

3. To aim at; aspire to; desire or entertain pretension to; as, to affect imperial sway. [See the etymology of Affair.]

4. To tend to by natural affinity or disposition; as, the drops of a fluid affect a spherical form.

5. To love, or regard with fondness.

Think not that wars we love and strife affect.

[This sense is closely allied to the third.]

6. To make a show of; to attempt to imitate, in a manner not natural; to study the appearance of what is not natural, or real; as, to affect to be grave; affected friendship.

It seems to have been used formerly for convict or attaint, as in Ayliffe's Parergon; but this sense is not now in use.

Affection - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

Feeling or emotion. Mention is made of "vile affections" (Rom. 1:26) and "inordinate affection" (Col. 3:5). Christians are exhorted to set their affections on things above (Col. 3:2). There is a distinction between natural and spiritual or gracious affections (Ezek. 33:32).

Affection - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

AFFEC'TION, n.

1. The state of being affected. [Little used.]

2. Passion; but more generally,

3. A bent of mind towards a particular object, holding a middle place between disposition, which is natural, and passion, which is excited by the presence of its exciting object. Affection is a permanent bent of the mind, formed by the presence of an object, or by some act of another person, and existing without the presence of its object.

4. In a more particular sense, a settle good will, love or zealous attachment; as, the affection of a parent for his child. It was formerly followed by to or towards, but is now more generally followed by far.

5. Desire; inclination; propensity, good or evil; as, virtuous or vile affections. Rom 1. Gal 5.

6. In a general sense, an attribute, quality or property, which is inseparable from its object; as, love, fear and hope are affections of the mind; figure, weight, _c., are affections of bodies.

7. Among physicians, a disease, or any particular morbid state of the body; as, a gouty affection; hysteric affection.

8. In painting, a lively representation of passion.

Shakespeare uses the word for affectation; but this use is not legitimate.

a-fekt', a-fek'-shun: The literal meaning of "affect" is to act upon (Latin ad, "to," "upon," facio, "to do"). It has various shades of meaning, and occurs in the following senses in the English Bible:

(1) In its literal sense: La 3:51, "Mine eye affecteth my soul"

(2) In the sense of "to endeavor after," "desire," "court": Ga 4:17, "They zealously affect (the Revised Version (British and American) "seek") you .... that ye may affect (the Revised Version (British and American) "seek") them," i.e. they earnestly court your favor, that you may court theirs. Paul means that the proselytizing zeal of the Judaizers was rooted in personal ambition. The past part. "affected" (the Revised Version (British and American) "sought") has the same meaning in Ga 4:18. The same Greek word (zeloo) is translated "desire earnestly" in the Revised Version (British and American) (1Co 12:31; 14:1,39). "Affect" has a similar meaning in Ecclesiasticus 13:11.

(3) In the passive, it occurs in the sense of "to be disposed," in a neutral sense, with an adverb to characterize the nature of the disposition: Ac 14:2, "evil affected against the brethren" So also 2 Macc 4:21; 13:26.

"Affection" occurs in the following senses:

(1) In the literal sense: the state of having one's feelings acted upon or affected in some way; bent or disposition of mind, in a neutral sense (the nature of the affection, whether good or bad, needing further description in the context). So Col 3:2, "Set your affection (the Revised Version (British and American) "mind") on things above"; Col 3:5, "inordinate affection" (here "affection" by itself is neutral; the addition of the adjective makes it equivalent to "passion" in an evil sense, as in the Revised Version (British and American)).

(2) In a good sense: tender feeling, warm attachment, good will; the word in itself carrying a good meaning apart from the context. 1Ch 29:3, "because I have set my affection on the house of my God"; Ro 1:31; 2Ti 3:3, "without natural affection", 2Co 6:12 "Ye are straitened in your own affections" (lit. "bowels," regarded as the seat of kindly feelings, compare Eng "heart") So 2Co 7:15.

(3) In an evil sense in the plural = passions. Ga 5:24, the flesh, with the affections (the Revised Version (British and American) "passions") and "lusts"; Ro 1:26, "God gave them unto vile affections" (the Revised Version (British and American) "passions").

"Affectioned" occurs once, in a neutral sense: Ro 12:10, "affectioned (i.e. "disposed") one to another" In 1Th 2:8, we have "affectionately," in a good sense.

D. Miall Edwards