Bible Dictionary

FORFEIT

Sin & Judgment • Both

To forfeit means to lose something because of transgression or failure to observe a rule. Jesus warns that a person may forfeit his life or self by gaining the world while losing his soul.

Definition

To forfeit is to lose something because of transgression, failure to observe a rule, or being devoted or seized under a law. The word may describe property lost, a person separated from an assembly, or the loss of one’s life or self.

Biblical Usage

Jesus warns that a person may forfeit his life or self while gaining the world. Scripture also uses related language for property devoted, consecrated, seized, or lost because of legal or religious violation. The idea is loss resulting from a decisive wrong choice or transgression.

Historical Background

The English word implies acting beyond a rule or law. The supplied material notes that biblical terms may mean to shut in, devote, consecrate, fine, or suffer loss, and that older translations sometimes read “lose” where later translations use “forfeit.”

Related Figures

Historical Bible Dictionaries

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)

for'-fit (charam):"Forfeit" (from forisfacere, "to act beyond") implies loss through transgression or non-observance of some law or rule. The word occurs only once as the translation of charam, "to shut in," frequently to devote or consecrate a person or thing to God beyond redemption (compare Le 27:28,29; Mic 4:13; Ezr 10:8, "That whosoever came not within three days, .... all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity," King James Version margin, the American Revised Version, margin and the Revised Version (British and American) "devoted"; compare /APC 1Esdras 9:4, "Their cattle should be seized to the use of the temple" (anieroo, "to consecrate," "devote"); 6:32, "all his goods seized for the king" (ta huparchonia autou einai (eis) basilika)).The Revised Version (British and American) has "forfeited" (qadhesh, "consecrated,'; "devoted") for "defiled" (De 22:9), margin "Hebrew consecrated"; "forfeit his life" for "lose his own soul" (psuche) (Mt 16:26; Mr 8:36); "lose or forfeit his own self" for "lose himself or be cast away" (Lu 9:25, heauton de apolesas e zemiotheis; zemioo is the Septuagint for `anash, "to be mulcted," or "fined," Ex 21:22; De 22:19; Pr 17:26; 19:19; 21:11; 22:3); Weymouth renders Lu 9:25, "to have lost or forfeited his own self" (or "had to pay his own self--his own existence--as a fine"); in the other instances of zemioo (1Co 3:15; Php 3:8), the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render "suffer loss," "suffered .... loss"; 2Co 7:9 the King James Version, "receive damage."W. L. Walker

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