Inflated (5448) (phusioo from phusia = a pair of bellows!) means literally to puff up, to inflate, to cause to swell up or blow up. Figuratively, as in the present passage phusioo means make proud or arrogant (active sense) or to become conceited, proud or haughty (passive sense as in this verse). To become puffed up or put on airs.
In classic Greek phusioo was used to describe anger that swells (puffs up) the heart.
Moulton and Milligan record an example of phusioo from ancient literature - "priding themselves on their birth".
Phusioo describes one who has an exaggerated self-concept (as indicated by the adverb eike = there being no reason). The present tense pictures this self "inflation" as a continual practice.
Phusioo - 7x in 7v (not in Septuagint) - 1Cor 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4; Col 2:18. NAS = arrogant(5), inflated(1), makes arrogant(1).
1 Corinthians 4:6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
1 Corinthians 4:18 Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.
1 Corinthians 5:2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.
Vincent rightly remarks: The contrast is striking between puffing up and building up — a bubble and a building.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
Colossians 2:18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
Clearly the concentration of phusioo in the first epistle to the Corinthians reflects that spiritual pride among the believers in Corinth was a serious spiritual problem. God is inveterately opposed to the self inflated mindset (Jas 4:6-note, cp Pr 6:16, 17, 29:23)
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Greek Word Studies ( - )
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