There are two types of crowns mentioned in the
NT,
στέφανος [
stephanos] and
διάδημα [
diadēma] . Most discussions of these two words indicate that the
stephanos is a
victor’s crown, whereas the
diadēma is a
royal crown.
“The stephanos was the usual crown of exaltation for victors of games, achievements in war, and places of honor at feasts (AV 1Cor. 1Cor. 9:25; RSV, NEB ‘wreath’).”1 “Probably the widest NT use of the word [stephanos ] is in conjunction with the Greek games as parallels to the Christian life (cf. 1Cor. 1Cor. 9:24, 1Cor. 9:25; Gal. Gal. 2:2; Php. Php. 3:14; 2Ti. 2Ti. 2:5; 1Pe. 1Pe. 5:4).”2 “In each biblical use the diadem is a badge of royalty.”3 However, when one analyzes the context within which these two terms appear, it appears that they are not as clearly distinguished as these definitions would imply.
Notes
1 W. E. Raffety, “Crown,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915), 1:831.
2 Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992), 172-173.
3 Geoffrey W. Bromiley, “Diadem,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915), 941.