ἐλεύθερος
eleútheros · G1658 · Greek · 23 occurrences
Meanings
-
free, to be free
Pertaining to being free
ExamplesMatthew 17:26 When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt.
John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness.
-
free person, free man
Pertaining to a person who is not a slave, either one who has never been a slave or one who was a slave formerly but is no longer
ExamplesJohn 8:33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you called as a slave? Do not let it concern you. But if you are also able to become free, take advantage of that.
1 Corinthians 7:22 For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave, is the Lord’s freed person; likewise the one who was called as free, is Christ’s slave.
How it’s used In 7 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- πᾶςall, every, each 1
What it doesIt is the subject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- κρύπτωto hide 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἀλληγορέωto speak allegorically 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- οὐnot 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- ἹερουσαλήμJerusalem 1
- υἱόςson 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἐκfrom 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- σάρξflesh, body, physical body 1
- υἱόςson 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Contrasting words 1 word
- δοῦλος doûlos · G1401 · subservient to, controlled by, slave
- The target term ἐλεύθερος (“free”) and δοῦλος (“slave, bondservant”) represent a genuine lexical antonym pair denoting opposing legal and social statuses — free person against slave — a classic status-based antonymy in the New Testament.
In the other Testament 1 word
- חׇפְשִׁי chophshîy · H2670 · free
- Hebrew חׇפְשִׁי (chophshîy, H2670) denotes the same core concept of freedom from slavery or bondage as Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, G1658), with both terms encompassing legal, social, and cultic dimensions of liberty in their respective linguistic contexts.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Free, to be free37.134
- Used in Romans 6:20 and 7:3, where Paul describes believers as formerly slaves to sin but now, through death to the law, free to belong to another.
- Free person, free man87.84
- Used in Matthew 17:26, where Jesus concludes from the practice of kings collecting toll from strangers rather than their own sons that the sons are exempt, and in John 8:33, where Abraham's descendants insist they have never been enslaved to anyone, identifying themselves by their free status.
Word family 4 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἐλευθέρα, ἐλεύθερον (ἘΛΑΥΘΩ equivalent to ἔρχομαι (so Curtius, p. 497, after Etym. Magn.…
1. freeborn; in a civil sense, one who is not a slave: Jn 8:33; 1 Cor 7:22; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:28; Eph 6:8; Col 3:11; Rev 6:15; Rev 13:16; Rev 19:18; feminine, Gal 4:22f, 30f. (opposed to ἡ παιδίσκη); of one who ceases to be a slave, freed, manumitted: γίνεσθαι ἐλεύθερον, 1 Cor 7:21.
2. free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by an obligation: 1 Cor 9:1; ἐκ πάντων (see ἐκ, I. 6 at the end), 1 Cor 9:19; ἀπό τίνος, free from i. e. no longer under obligation to, so that one may now do what was formerly forbidden by the person or thing to which he was bound, Rom 7:3 (cf. Winers Grammar, 196f (185); Buttmann, 157f (138), 269 (231)); followed by an infinitive (Winers Grammar, 319 (299); Buttmann, 260 (224)), ἐλευθέρα ἐστιν... γαμηθῆναι she is free to be married, has liberty to marry, 1 Cor 7:39; exempt from paying tribute or tax, Mt 17:26.
3. in an ethical sense: free from the yoke of the Mosaic law, Gal 4:26; 1 Pet 2:16; from the bondage of sin, Jn 8:36; left to one's own will and pleasure, with the dative of respect, τῇ δικαιοσύνη, so far as relates to righteousness, as respects righteousness, Rom 6:20 (Winers Grammar, § 31, 1 k.; Buttmann, § 133, 12).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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