Ichnos: Following the Trail

Word of the Week

October 12, 2024

Ichnos: Following the Trail

 

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you a example for you to follow in His steps.

1 Peter 2:21 NASB2020

We were staying at a luxurious cabin in the hill country near Durango, Colorado.  The scenery was magnificent – a meadow sloping down to a lake, ringed by pine-studded mountains.  We decided to take the kids for a walk down a dirt road.  After about a quarter mile, I happened to glance down and noticed a track in the dirt – the print of a cat’s paw.  Only bigger, much bigger.

They had told us that a mountain lion had been sighted in the area, and I had thought little about it.  Now I had seen evidence of its passing, and we kept a sharp eye on our surroundings all the way back to the cabin!

Footprints can be meaningful because they show the path someone has chosen.  That imagery shows up in the New Testament, expressed in a Greek word that shows us trails we can follow and paths we cannot.

The Greek word for tracks or foot prints is ichnos [IKH-nahss].  The ancient writers used it to describe a single footprint or a trail of prints left by a human or an animal.  The Greek Old Testament used it in promises like Joshua 1:3, where the Lord swore to give the Israelites “every place on which the sole of your foot steps.” Wherever their sandals left an imprint, the land would be theirs.

The New Testament uses ichnos 3 times, always in the plural, denoting a string of steps, a pattern of conduct.

• Paul answered some critics in Corinth who tried to raise suspicions about his conduct by pointing out that both he and his associates Titus and an unnamed brother had conducted their affairs in the same way. Literally, they walked in the same tracks (2 Corinthians 12:18).

When the snow in our yard is more than an inch or two deep, the easiest way to cross the yard is to use the footsteps someone else has left.  Similarly, Titus stepped into the same tracks as his mentor Paul – both scrupulously avoiding any temptation to take advantage of the believers.  They followed the tracks of honesty and integrity.

• Jews looked to Abraham as the founder of their nation, and they boasted of following his example by being circumcised, a token of their exclusive relationship with God. They were following the path of Abraham by being circumcised.

The apostle Paul took their argument deeper in Romans 4:12.  “Remember that Abraham was justified by his faith in God before he was ever circumcised.  The way to truly replicate Abraham’s example is to “follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham.”  Even Gentiles could step into the tracks left behind by Abraham; they could do so by exercising the same faith.  They could follow the tracks of Abraham’s faith.

• People who follow Jesus often suffer persecution. They suffer undeserved harshness from antagonists, and it seems natural to complain about it.  But Peter reminds us that our Lord suffered unjustly without bitterness or protest, without any attempt at revenge.

Jesus left a trail of footprints, “an example, so that you would follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).  We can follow Christ’s tracks by handling opposition with grace.

All of these verses urge us to follow the tracks left behind by someone else, matching their steps and following where they have gone.  However, there is another Greek word that describes a trail that we cannot follow.

The word is anexichniastos [ah-neks-ikh-NEE-ahss-tahss] – quite a mouthful!  It appears only twice in the New Testament, often translated as “unfathomable.”  I think that “untrackable” would be a good rendering of us, because it is built on our word ichnos, with some added letters that mean “not.”

This word carries the idea of something that goes beyond our ability to successfully track down.  We can try to grasp it, but we will never completely succeed.  It appears two times, both in descriptions of God’s spectacular salvation.

• Romans 11:33 explodes in praise to God for His complex, surprising plans to bless His people, the Jewish nation – even after three chapters of explanation, Paul describes it as God “untrackable paths.”
• Ephesians 3:8 pays tribute to the grace of God in allowing Paul to announce God’s complex, surprising plans to save Gentiles – “the untrackable riches of Christ.”

Just as we cannot catalog all the galaxies or diagram the intricacies of a cell, we can never do justice to the overarching design of God’s kingdom.

It is enough to stand in awe and worship.

 

Study Hint:

You can also study a parallel word that Paul uses in Romans 11:33.  He says that God’s judgments are unsearchable.  Used only here, the Greek word comes from the verb exauranō, which means “to search.”  You can start investigating this word in passages like John 5:39; 7:52; Romans 8:27; 1 Peter 1:10-11; Revelation 2:23).

 

Coming Up

Have you ever encountered an angel?  Next week we will look at the Greek word for angel, giving you a chance to get a fresh look at those amazing beings.

©Ezra Project 2024