Temple Keeper - Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Temple Keeper

[ 1,,G3511, neokoros ]
Acts 19:35, RV, and AV marg., temple keeper" (AV, "worshiper"), is used in profane Greek of "one who has charge of a temple." Coin inscriptions show that it was an honorary title given to certain cities, especially in Asia Minor, where the cult of some god or of a deified human potentate had been established, here to Ephesus in respect of the goddess Artemis. Apparently the imperial cult also existed at Ephesus. Josephus applies the word to Jews as worshipers, but this is not the meaning in Acts 19.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words