φθορά

φθορά — phthorá

φθορά, φθορᾶς, ἡ (φθείρω), from Aeschylus and Herodotus down:

1. corruption, destruction, perishing (opposed to γένεσις, origin, often in Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch; opposed to σωτηρία, Plato, Phileb., p. 35 e.; for שַׁחַת, Psa 102:4; Jon 2:7): Rom 8:21 (on which see δουλεία); 2Pe 2:12 a (some (cf. R. V. marginal reading) take φθορά here actively: εἰς φθοράν, to destroy); ἐν φθορά, in a state of corruption or decomposition (of the body at burial), 1Co 15:42; by metonymy, that which is subject to corruption, what is perishable, opposed to ἀφθαρσία, 1Co 15:50; in the Christian sense, the loss of salvation, eternal misery (which elsewhere is called ἀπώλεια), Col 2:22 (see ἀπόχρησις); opposed to ζωή αἰώνιος, Gal 6:8, cf. Schott ad loc. 2. in the N. T. in an ethical sense, corruption i. e. moral decay: 2Pe 1:4; 2Pe 2:12{b} (some take the word here actively (R. V. text in their destroying), others refer it to 1 above), 2Pe 2:19; with τῆς ζωῆς added, Wis 14:12.