"Excess" is not a False Friend in the KJV.

One of the issues that I have with Mark Ward’s argument against the KJV is that Ward is operating from a position of willful ignorance. Thomas Jefferson once contemptuously observed of Thomas Paine that he “thought more than he read,” and I’ve found the same sentiment to be true of Mark Ward. His arguments often reveal a lack of genuine study and a contempt for the more laborious requirements of true scholarship. Ward’s video on the word excess in Ephesians 5:18 stands as a glowing testament of this shortcoming.

Ward made three critical errors in this video, and all three of them stemmed directly from his failure to learn from the work of others. First, his lack of study caused him to misunderstand the lexical entry for the Greek word translated as excess. This first error then led to a misrepresentation of the modern definition of excess. And finally, his disdain for the toil of study caused him to misconstrue the reason that the KJV translators chose the word excess. All of these errors could have been avoided if Ward had simply paid attention to his own source material.
 
Critical Error 1
 
Ward is fond of using the BDAG lexicon. He often refers to it in glowing terms, praising it as the best and most responsible Greek lexicon ever written. One would think that such extravagant praise for a literary work would be accompanied by careful and reverential reading of its content, but such has not proven to be the case with Ward and his beloved BDAG. When Ward read the BDAG entry for ἀσωτία (asotia), the Greek word translated as “excess,” he ignored everything except the part that he thought agreed with him. Here is what the BDAG says about asotia:

Notice this section of the entry:
 
“the verb σῴζω refers to preservation, hence ἀσωτία gener. denotes ‘wastefulness’ (for a detailed discussion of the topic Aristot., EN 4, 1–45), then reckless abandon, debauchery, dissipation, profligacy, esp. exhibited in convivial gatherings”
 
Now let’s make it more readable by expanding the abbreviations, removing the parenthesis and extra formatting, and transliterating the Greek.

“The verb sozo refers to preservation, hence asotia generally denotes ‘wastefulness,’ then reckless abandon, debauchery, dissipation, profligacy, especially exhibited in convivial gatherings.”
 
To put that in layman’s terms, BDAG says that the Greek word asotia means “wastefulness” which can then lead to recklessness and debauchery.
 
Now let’s look at the information that was in parentheses. The parenthetical information tells us where to go for a more detailed discussion of this topic: “for a detailed discussion of the topic Aristot., EN 4, 1–45.” This is a reference to Aristotle’s work, Nicomachean Ethics. In particular, this note is directing us to read sections 1 through 45 of Book 4 of this work. You can read that entire portion of Aristotle’s book in Greek along with Rackham’s English translation by clicking here, but I’ll go ahead and copy over a few excerpts. Here is what Aristotle wrote about the word asotia which Rackham translates as “prodigality”:
 
Prodigality (asotia) and Meanness on the other hand are both of them modes of excess and of deficiency in relation to wealth … Prodigality is sometimes used with a wider connotation, since we call the unrestrained and those who squander money on debauchery prodigal; and therefore prodigality is thought to be extremely wicked, because it is a combination of vices. But this is not the proper application of the word: really it denotes the possessor of one particular vice, that of wasting one's substance; for he who is ruined by his own agency is a hopeless case indeed, and to waste one's substance seems to be in a way to ruin oneself, inasmuch as wealth is the means of life. This then is the sense in which the term Prodigality is here understood…
 
He that exceeds his means is prodigal. This is why we do not call the lavishness of princes Prodigality; because we feel that however much they spend and give away they can hardly exceed the limit of their resources … Prodigality exceeds in giving, and is deficient in getting … Now the two forms of Prodigality are very seldom found united in the same person, because it is not easy to give to everyone without receiving from anyone: the giver's means are soon exhausted, if he is a private citizen, and only such persons are considered prodigal. In fact, a man who is prodigal in both ways may be thought considerably superior to the mean man; for he is easily cured by age or by poverty, and is able to be brought to the due mean, because he possesses the essentials of the liberal character—he gives, and he refrains from taking, though he does neither in the proper way or rightly. Correct this by training, or otherwise reform him, and he will be liberal, for he will now give his money to the right objects, while he will not get it from the wrong sources. This is why he is felt to be not really bad in character; for to exceed in giving without getting is foolish rather than evil or ignoble. The prodigal of this type therefore seems to be much superior to the mean man, both for the reasons stated, and because the former benefits many people, but the latter benefits nobody, not even himself.
 
But the majority of prodigal people, as has been said, besides giving wrongly, take from wrong sources … What makes them grasping is that they want to spend, but cannot do so freely because they soon come to the end of their resources, and so are compelled to obtain supplies from others. Moreover, being indifferent to nobility of conduct, they are careless how they get their money, and take it from anywhere; their desire is to give, and they do not mind how or where they get the means of giving. Hence even their giving is not really liberal: their gifts are not noble, nor given for the nobility of giving, nor in the right way; on the contrary, sometimes they make men rich who ought to be poor, and will not give anything to the worthy, while heaping gifts on flatterers and others who minister to their pleasures. Hence most prodigal men are also profligate; for as they spend their money freely, some of it is squandered in debauchery; and having no high moral standard they readily yield to the temptation of pleasure. This then is what the prodigal comes to if he is not brought under discipline; but if he is taken in hand, he may attain the due mean and the right scale of liberality.
 
Remember, the BDAG lexicon said that asotia is “wastefulness” which can then lead to recklessness and debauchery among friends. That’s exactly what Aristotle said about asotia in this excerpt. The person who suffers from asotia is unable to restrain himself and squanders his money on every pleasure that he can afford for both himself and his companions. That’s also a great description of what happens when a man is drunk. He loses his inhibitions and finds himself doing whatever he feels will make him happy without any regard for the cost. That’s what is meant by the word asotia which the KJV translates as “excess.”
 
Now, both Aristotle and BDAG mention the word debauchery in relation to asotia, but look at how they describe the relationship between these two concepts. Neither one says that asotia is the same thing as debauchery. BDAG lists debauchery as just one of many things that comes from asotia, and Aristotle explains that debauchery is only a likely result of asotia. Both sources make a clear distinction between debauchery and what is meant by the term asotia.
 
If Mark Ward had taken the time to look up this passage from Aristotle, he would have noticed this distinction between asotia and debauchery. And if Ward is as familiar with the Greek language as he claims to be, he would also have noticed that the Greek word for debauchery is not at all related to the word asotia. The Greek word for debauchery is ἀκολασία (akolasia), but Ward won’t find this word in his beloved BDAG lexicon because BDAG only includes words found in the New Testament. To look up akolasia, Ward would have to use the much more exhaustive LSJM lexicon which would provide him with this definition:

Notice the terms intemperance, undisciplined, unbridled, incontinent, and unpunished. These are provided as translations of akolasia because the root word of this term is κολάστειρα (kolasteira) which means “chastised, punished, or disciplined.” The a- prefix means “without,” so akolasia means “without punishment or discipline.” This is what is meant by our English term debauchery. It is a reference to the actions that one would take if he had no discipline in his life and no fear of punishment.
 
Debauchery can be a product of excess, but they are two very different things. Excess is the lack of inhibition or the inability to restrain oneself, while debauchery is one of the potential results of that lack. Ephesians 5:18 is not a warning that wine always produces debauchery. It is a warning that wine always lowers the inhibitions, and debauchery is just one of the potential outcomes from that effect. Ward would have realized this important distinction if he had paid attention to his own source and invested a little bit of extra time looking up the reference to Aristotle.
 
Critical Error 2
 
Ward’s second error can be traced directly back to his first. Once he was convinced that the Greek word asotia meant “debauchery,” Ward proceeded to show that the word excess is not defined as “debauchery” in modern, contemporary dictionaries.
 
Ward began this section with a surprising reference to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. This is, by far, the most frequently accessed online dictionary in the world, but in most of his videos, Ward studiously avoids it and relies instead on the significantly lesser-known American Heritage Dictionary. Ward does include the American Heritage Dictionary in this video as well, but I have to give him credit for making at least one reference to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
 
With both of these dictionaries in hand, Ward proceeded to look for a modern definition of excess that could somehow be synonymous with the idea of debauchery. Of course, he failed to find such a definition. What he found instead was that both of these dictionaries identify the word excess as a reference to surpassing normal, proper, or lawful boundaries which, coincidentally, just happens to be oddly similar to the way that Aristotle defined the Greek word asotia. Both dictionaries also linked the word excess to drunkenness just like the KJV translators did in Ephesians 5:18.
 
The similarities between the modern definitions of excess and the ancient uses of asotia were completely lost on Ward because he failed to do his due diligence and look up the reference to Aristotle.
 
Critical Error 3
 
Ward’s typical approach to words that he deems to be “false friends” is to scour the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for anything he can use to say that the KJV translators used an archaic or obsolete sense of the word in question. His approach to the word excess is no exception, but it takes a little twist. In this case, Ward’s total misunderstanding of the original Greek word has sent him on a wild goose chase looking for a definition that doesn’t exist. Of course, he found what he was looking for anyway.
 
Ward showed a screenshot of the fourth sense for excess found in the OED, which is “extravagant violation of law, decency, or morality; outrageous conduct.” He didn’t mention or show any of the other senses. He just picked out the sense that best suited his purposes and announced, “This absolutely has to be the sense the King James Translators intended.” Ostensibly, Ward chose this sense solely because it is the closest one to the idea of debauchery, and the fact that it’s also an obsolete sense had nothing to do with it.

Let’s assume that Ward’s motives were pure and consider where that leaves us. Did the KJV translators really use the word excess in a sense that is now obsolete? Not at all. Ward merely assumed they did because he failed to look up the reference to Aristotle in the BDAG entry for asotia.
 
Had Ward taken the time to read the passage from Aristotle, he would have realized that the OED’s fifth sense of excess is a perfect match for the word asotia. That fifth sense has a general application of “the overstepping of the limits of moderation” with a specific application in the context of food or drink of “intemperance in eating or drinking.” In other words, there is a sense for excess that specifically applies to someone getting drunk and losing his inhibitions to the point that he oversteps the bounds of moderation in other areas as well. This lack of inhibition is perfectly synonymous with Aristotle’s definition of asotia, and it is a perfect fit for the context of Ephesians 5:18. This is the sense that the KJV translators intended, and it’s not anywhere close to being obsolete. Ward simply chose the wrong sense because his reasoning lacked a foundation of thorough study.
 
By the way, the KJV translators weren’t the only ones to recognize that asotia is associated with wastefulness and a lack of inhibition. Several other translators of this passage have used words different from excess which still reveal that they had the same understanding of asotia. For example, the NKJV, the NASB95, the LSB, and the HNV all translate asotia as “dissipation” which means “wastefulness.” The CSB uses the phrase “reckless living” which carries the idea of lacking proper inhibitions. The YLT uses the term dissoluteness which refers to a “looseness of manners and morals.” The Vulgate translates asotia as luxuria, which is the Latin word for extravagance, and Luther translated this word as unordentlich as a reference to disorderly conduct. The common thread among all these translations is the idea that asotia refers to wasteful actions stemming from a lack of proper inhibition.
 
We could carry our study further and note that the same Greek word asotia is translated as “riot” in Titus 1:6 and I Peter 4:4 by the KJV. In other versions, it is translated as “wild,” “wildness,” “indecent behavior,” “profligate,” “riotous living,” “loose behavior,” “loose living,” and “revelry.” Granted, there are a few versions which retained the translation of “debauchery” from Ephesians 5:18, but there are several which shifted to a word more synonymous with excess for these later occurrences of asotia.
 
At the beginning of this article, I quoted Jefferson’s contemptuous assessment of Thomas Paine, but I neglected to mention that Jefferson was only throwing Paine’s own words back at him. When Paine was asked about the sources that he used in composing his pamphlet Common Sense, he pridefully exclaimed, “I neither read books, nor studied other people’s opinions—I thought for myself.” Paine was not being entirely truthful in that claim since we know that the ideas behind Common Sense actually came from Benjamin Rush, but his statement provides an excellent parallel to Mark Ward’s approach to the KJV.
 
Ward makes a pretention of humility by claiming that he is not a scholar. He once wrote, “I’m convinced that ‘teachers’ includes scholars (I’m also convinced I’m not one of them—not every teacher is a scholar).” And in case anyone misunderstood him, he later clarified, “I’m not a scholar.” I agree with Ward’s self-analysis here. He is not a scholar. Like Thomas Paine, Ward is merely a propogandist. A true scholar would have noticed the reference to Aristotle in the BDAG and looked it up. A propogandist isn’t interested in extra work to uncover the truth; his only goal is to make his argument sound good enough to be believed.
 
And just as Paine boasted that he did not study other people’s opinions, we find Mark Ward saying the same thing. In the same article referenced above, Ward lumped “the combined literary output of all the King James Only colleges” into a single category and said that he didn’t pay any attention to it at all. “I simply never find what they write to be helpful—even if I agree with a great deal of it—so I ignore it.” These are not the words of a man engaged in the diligent pursuit of truth.

Addendum:

One of my friends sent me this additional information about the word asotia:

"The Greek Orthodox Church has a unique advantage in interpreting Ephesians 5:18, as its liturgical and theological tradition is rooted in the Greek language and culture.

"Asotia is understood, per St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Ephesians (Homily 19), as "profligacy" or "wastefulness," evoking a spiritually destructive state akin to the prodigal son’s reckless living (asotos in Luke 15:13). Chrysostom, a native Greek speaker from the 4th century, links asotia to drunkenness as a gateway to sins like lust or folly, contrasting it with the mystical "filling" of the Holy Spirit, which aligns with theosis (divinization). The Orthodox lectionary integrates Eph 5:18 into worship, emphasizing spiritual transformation through the sacraments (e.g., Holy Communion) and liturgical life, directly informed by the Greek text’s nuances."
 
Click here to read about more words that are not "false friends" in the KJV.