A biblical word, then, does not mean the same thing in every place it occurs. Neither does a word ever mean everything it could possibly mean at one time. The erroneous notion that a word in a particular context means the sum total of all (or even some) of its possible meanings is called illegitimate totality transfer, a term coined by the British biblical scholar James Barr.5 Illegitimate totality transfer occurs when, for example, a significant biblical
