τὸ μακάριον καὶ ἄφθαρτον are the Greek words used in PD1
I recently discovered that the famous Beatitudes in the New Testament use the same word as Epicurus's Principal Doctrine 1: μακάριος (makarios) "blessed" https://biblehub.com/greek/3107.htm I'm *not* saying that the Epicureans influenced the Bible writers (a la Dewitt), but I thought it might be instructive to see that word used in a more familiar context to add a different level of meaning to the Doctrine. The Beatitudes obviously applied to people not gods. So, how can we interpret PD 1 to also apply to human beings? There is commentary out there along those lines, so I'm not going to outline it all here. Just something for thought on this post.
Since I found μακάριος in the Beatitudes, I also decided to see how the other descriptor in PD1, άφθαρτος (aphthartos) "incorruptible," appeared in the Bible: https://biblehub.com/greek/862.htm I Peter 3:4 is an interesting context "the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit." and 1:23 "for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable." Again, this imperishability is experienced by living humans in this context.
Personally, I think this strengthens the "idealist" concept of the Epicurean gods (a la Sedley et al). I've read papers that say that people/sages can/could become "gods" in the Epicurean sense if they become exemplars of the philosophy in life and, after they die, can continue as an imperishable concept in the minds of those who come after them. The sage doesn't exist anymore, but their example is άφθαρτον "imperishable" because it now relies only on recollecting the images of their example.
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