EGGIZO (To Draw Near)
WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ
What is the Word?
There is a certain sense in which all human beings seek after intimacy. We desire to be close with our friends, family, spouses, and loved-ones. We desire bonds that transcend emotions and circumstances - that endure all hardships and grow stronger with time. It just so happens that this closeness is exactly what God desires with each and every person. In the New Testament, the word God uses to draw near to us is eggizó.
How does the Bible use this word?
“all human beings seek after intimacy”
Eggizó is classified as a verb in Greek, coming from the word eggus – to approach. While “approach” has some import into this word – the broader gist that it conveys is the idea of extreme immediacy or immanence. Perhaps even the word “presence” might be an adequate rendering of the idea that Eggizó is trying to convey in the scriptures – especially in regards to the type of relationship that God is seeking with his creation. For Jesus, relationships are not supposed to be superficial, but should literally transcend one another – to become what Paul calls members of one body.
Where in the Bible?
Jesus sometimes uses the word to describe that his presence has inaugurated the kingdom of God which is immanent:
Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near (ἤγγικεν) to you.’
Luke 10:8-9
The message being conveyed here is that God’s kingdom was entering their domain. They were not sitting idly by, but were active participating in God’s work. Indeed, God has drawn so near to them that God was actively working in and through them.
James also utilizes this idea when he talks of our personal relationship with God:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near (ἐγγίσατε) to God, and he will draw near (ἐγγιεῖ) to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:7-10
What strikes us here is the sense of mutual closeness. God desires us to be all-in for him, to hold nothing back but to bring all things before him. In the same way, he holds nothing back from us, even his own son, who willingly embraces death on our behalf.
Draw Near to Him
“Engaged in the intimate love of God, we desire to reach out to the ends of the earth to incorporate every person into this immanent grace”
What can eggizó teach us about relationships? Quite a bit, actually. Namely, the desire that we have for intimacy has its roots in the love that the Father has for the Son – an intimacy which we seek to participate in through the Holy Spirit. Engaged in the intimate love of God, we desire to reach out to the ends of the earth to incorporate every person into this immanent grace, that we might all be transformed and become members of the same body.