The meaning of Greek words in the New Testament

I've been following a conversation at Theology List at Yahoo Groups about how Christians should relate to church leaders. Some folk are not keen on the idea of submitting to leaders and are not sure this is taught in the New Testament.

A recent comment was made about Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, the first part of which is translated pretty consistently as something quite close to

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.

The person commenting remarked that the Greek verb PEITHO means be persuaded by rather than obey, as it is usually translated in this passage.

If you look the word up in a lexicon [fancy word for a bible language dictionary], you will find that the word has a basic meaning, but also lots of variations on the basic meaning, depending on the context and also whether it is in the active or passive voice and whether it is followed by an indirect or direct object or by the infinitive.

The standard lexicon most New Testament bible scholars use is Danker's revision of Arndt and Gingrich's edition of Bauer's German lexicon, which is usually referred to as BDAG, which honours Bauer as the bloke who created the dictionary in the first place, Arndt and Gingrich as the people who translated it into English, and Danker as the latest reviser.

Looking up BDAG, you will find the word is used in a variety of ways:

1. the first meaning is "to cause to come to a particular point of view or action" and there are verses where the best translation seems to be
a. to convince, as in Acts 18:4
b. persuade or appeal to, as in 2 Corinthians 5:11
c. win over, strive to please, as in Acts 12:20
d. conciliate, pacify, set at rest, as in Matthew 28:14

2. There is a second meaning "to be so convinced that one puts confidence in something" and there are verses where the best translation seems to be

a. for verses where PEITHO is followed by an indirect object and person or thing
"depend on" or "trust in" as in Philippians 1:14
b. for verses where the word is follwoed by a direct object or the infinitive
"be convinced" or "be sure" or "be certain" as in Romans 2:19

3. A third meaning occurs where the verb is in the passive or middle voice and amy be roughly translated "to be won over as the result of persuasion"

There are verses in this category that would seem to be best translated as

a. be persuaded, believe, as in Acts 21:14
b. when followed by an indirect object and a person or thing
"obey, follow" as in Hebrews 13:17

c. Danker admits that sometimes there is uncertainty whether the translation should be a or b, but does not see an argument for uncertainty about Hebrews 13:17. I have not seen a translation that renders this verse as anything else but "obey your leaders"

4. A fourth meaning is "to attainty certainty in reference to something, be convinced or certain" as in Hebrews 6:9

Having discovered the variety of meanings given, you might think that you can choose the one that you like best, or which feels right to you. If you don't like the idea of having to obey someone else, why not go for be won over as the result of persuasion?

But almost all bible translations have rendered this word into English as obey or an equivalent of obey. This agreement on how Hebrews 13:17 should be translated is not because the bible translators and lexicon writers are all power hungry bishops who want to lord it over us plebs! It is a consensus based on many hundreds of scholars reading Greek literature from before, after and during the New Testament period, and finding that obey is the most appropriate rendering for this context.

Interestingly, two recent less literal translations have softened the meaning a little. The Message, Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, and the TNIV, an updated version of the NIV translation, have the beginning of Hebrews 13:17 saying:

Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel.[The Message]
Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority [TNIV]

If you find youself preferring the way the verse comes out in these versions, you need to consider whether there has been any new scholarship which would necessitate a change in the way the verse had been rendered for hundreds of years. Are they based on more ancient Greek manuscripts? Have they discovered something new about the meaning of the word PEITHO in this context? If not, we can't opt for this new rendering simply because we like it. We need a more sound basis than that.