ἐπαγγελία, ἐπαγγελίας, ἡ (ἐπαγγέλλω);

1. announcement: 1Jn 1:5 (Rec., where ἀγγελία was long since restored); κατ’ ἐπαγγελίαν ζωῆς τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, to proclaim life in fellowship with Christ, 2Ti 1:1 (Winers Grammar, 402 (376); cf. κατά, II. at the end. But others give ἐπαγγελία here as elsewhere the sense of promise, cf. 2 below).

2. promise;

a. the act of promising, a promise given or to be given: προσδέχεσθαι τήν ἀπό τίνος ἐπαγγελίαν (assent; the reference is to a promise to surrender Paul to the power and sentence of the Jews), Act 23:21; (add, ἐπαγγελίας ὁ λόγος οὗτος, Rom 9:9). It is used also of the divine promises of blessing, especially of the benefits of salvation by Christ (cf. Lightfoot on Galatians, 3:14): Act 7:17; Rom 4:14; Rom 4:16; (plural Rom 9:4); Galatians 3:17f, 21; Gal 4:23; Heb 11:17; 2Pe 3:9 (on which see βραδύνω, 2); Heb 8:6; Heb 11:9; followed by the infinitive Heb 4:1; γίνεται τίνι, Rom 4:13; πρός τινα, Act 13:32; Act 26:6; ἐρρήθη τίνι, Gal 3:16; ἐστι τίνι, belongs to one, Act 2:39; ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι τήν ἐπαγγελίαν 1Jn 2:25; ἔχειν ἐπαγγελίας, to have received, Heb 7:6; 2Co 7:1 (cf. Winer’s Grammar, 177 (166)); to have linked to it, 1Ti 4:8; εἶναι ἐν ἐπαγγελία, joined with a promise (others besides; cf. Winer’s Grammar, 391 (366)), Eph 6:2; ἡ γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, the promised land, Heb 11:9; τά κατά τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, born in accordance with the promise, Rom 9:8; Gal 4:28; τό πνεῦμα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τό ἅγιον, the promised Spirit, Eph 1:13; αἱ διαθῆκαι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, covenants to which was united the promise (of salvation through the Messiah), Eph 2:12; ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῦ Θεοῦ, given by God, Rom 4:20; in the plural 2Co 1:20; αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι τῶν πατέρων, the promises made to the fathers, Rom 15:8; with the genitive of the object, τῆς ζωῆς, 1Ti 4:8; τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, 2Pe 3:4; κατ’ ἐπαγγελίαν according to promise, Act 13:23; Gal 3:29; δἰ ἐπαγγελίας, Gal 3:18.

b. by metonymy, a promised good or blessing (cf. ἐλπίς, under the end): Gal 3:22; Eph 3:6 (yet here cf. Meyer or Ellicott); ἀποστέλλειν τήν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πατρός μου, the blessing promised by my Father, Luk 24:49; περιμένειν, Act 1:4; κομίζεσθαι τήν ἐπαγγελίαν, Heb 10:36; Heb 11:39 (Heb 11:13 T Tr WH, προσδέχεσθαι L); λαμβάνειν τάς ἐπαγγελίας, Heb 11:13 (R G); ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἐπαγγελιῶν, Heb 11:33; κληρονομεῖν τάς ἐπαγγελίας, Heb 6:12; ἐπιτυγχάνειν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, Heb 6:15; κληρονόμοι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, Heb 6:17 — (to reconcile Heb 6:12; Heb 6:15; Heb 6:17 with Heb 11:13; Heb 11:39, which at first sight seem to be in conflict, we must hold, in accordance with Heb 12:22-24, that the O. T. saints, after the expiatory sacrifice offered at length to God by Christ, were made partakers of the heavenly blessings before Christ’s return from heaven; (others explain the apparent contradiction by the difference between the initial and the consummate reception of the promise; see the commentaries at the passage)); with the epexegetical genitive λαβεῖν τήν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, the promised blessing, which is the Holy Spirit, Act 2:33; Gal 3:14 (cf. Winer’s Grammar, § 34, 3 a. at the end); τήν ἐπαγγελίαν τῆς αἰωνίου κληρονομίας, Heb 9:15. ((Demosthenes 519, 8; Aristotle, eth. Nic. 10, 1, p. 1164a, 29); Polybius 1, 43, 6, and often; Diodorus 1, 5; Josephus, Antiquities 3, 5, 1; 5, 8, 11; 1Ma 10:15.)